The “Panthers” defeated the Tampa Bay “Lightning” team 5-3 (1-0, 2-2, 2-1) on the road, thus taking a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series to four wins.
“Panthers” took the lead in the 11th minute of the match, when Matthew Tkaczak scored an accurate shot. In the first minute of the second period, Steven Stemkos equalized the result, but two minutes later, Tyler Motte already made it 2:1 for the home team “Lightning”. It did not knock the guests off balance, and last year’s finalist “Panthers” regained the lead until the end of the period – Sam Reinhardt equalized the score in the tenth minute of the third period, and Brandon Montour in the 17th minute.
In the tenth minute of the third period, Steven Lorenz increased the guests’ advantage to 4:2, to which the home team answered with Nick Paul’s accurate shot in the 55th minute. At the end of the match, “Lightning” replaced the goalkeeper with a sixth player, but could not save himself, letting the puck into an empty net ten seconds before the final whistle. Tkačak added a point to the game with an accurate shot.
The fourth game of the series will take place on Saturday in Tampa.
If more than four games are needed in the series, the next matches are scheduled for April 29 at the “Panthers” field, May 1 at the home of the “Lightning” and May 4 at the “Panthers” arena.
In the semi-finals of the conference, the winner of this pair will face the Boston Bruins or the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Bruins” are in the lead in this series with 2-1.
In the final series of the previous season, the Vegas “Golden Knights” beat the Florida “Panthers” 4-1, and Latvian forward Teodoras Bļuger became the winner of the Stanley Cup as part of the Vegas team.
