Lightning chalk up third straight wins against Panthers
Two top NHL teams squared off Sunday, with the road team the Tampa Bay Lightning winning against the league-leader Florida Panthers 8-4 (3-2, 2-1, 3-1).
The standings remain unchanged with Florida Panthers remaining the league leader and Tampa Bay Lightning is in third place.
Tampa Bay Lightning has extended their lead in their division to 106 points, while Boston sits one point back.
The visiting Lightning opened strong, as the game was just getting started with Nikita Kucherov scoring at early into the period, goal assisted by Pat Maroon and Ryan McDonagh.
The Panthers tied the score 1-1 quickly. Early in the period Sam Reinhart scored, goal assisted by Anton Lundell and Noel Acciari.
The Lightning scored again early into the period, after a Steven Stamkos goal assisted by Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov.
The Lightning increased the lead to 3-1 late in the period, after a Callan Foote goal assisted by Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos.
Late into the period in the first period Brandon Montour made his mark, and narrowed the gap for the Panthers.
The Panthers started the second period strongly and tied the game at 3-3 when Mason Marchment found the back of the net after 21 minutes.
After that though, it was mostly about the Lightning. The Tampa Bay Lightning regained the lead after 26 minutes, and eventually pulled ahead with a 5-3 lead.
It continued in the same way.
In the third period, Brayden Point scored in the fourth minute of the third period, assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman, increasing the lead for the Lightning.
In the third, Sam Reinhart scored his second goal eight minutes into the period, assisted by Jonathan Huberdeau and Claude Giroux, closing the gap for the Panthers.
In the third period, Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal in the 12th minute of the period, assisted by Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, increasing the lead for the Lightning.
In the third period, Steven Stamkos scored his second goal with 3 minutes remaining, assisted by Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov, increasing the lead for the Lightning. The 8-4 goal held up as the game winner.
Ahead of the game, the Panthers had 13 straight wins.
Ahead of the game, the Panthers had 13 games in a row without defeat.
Florida Panthers is now 57–16–6, while Tampa Bay Lightning improves to 49–22–8.
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, April 2, as Panthers host the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m. and Lightning visit the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 p.m.