Brayden Point led the way with a goal and two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning closed out their regular season in dominant fashion, rolling past the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Thursday night.
The win sets the tone for what’s shaping up to be a feisty first-round playoff showdown between these in-state rivals, with Game 1 set for this weekend.
Tampa Bay jumped on Florida early, scoring three goals in the opening period. Point set the tempo just 1:32 into the game with his 46th goal of the season. Conor Geekie, recently recalled from AHL Syracuse, made it 2-0 with 4:35 left in the frame before Jake Guentzel scored a shorthanded goal off a slick feed from Anthony Cirelli, pushing the lead to 3-0 with 1:51 remaining.
Nikita Kucherov added to the onslaught early in the second period with his 44th of the year, giving him 120 points on the season. He becomes just the 14th player in NHL history with three or more 120-point seasons, and he’s the first to do so in back-to-back years since Mario Lemieux.
Florida’s Brad Marchand briefly stopped the bleeding with a goal just over a minute later — his second since joining the Panthers — but Darren Raddysh responded in the third period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal to cap the scoring. The opportunity came after Jesse Puljujarvi was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head on Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee.
Yanni Gourde contributed two assists for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves in net. Vitek Vanecek stopped 26 shots for the Panthers, who rested several key players including Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Gustav Forsling.
Leading 2-0 late in the first, the Lightning seemed to be in trouble when Brandon Hagel took a double-minor to negate a power play. But just seven seconds into Florida’s man advantage, Cirelli outworked Seth Jones and found Guentzel in front for a short-handed goal that gave Tampa a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Geekie now has goals in back-to-back games since being called up. Victor Hedman recorded his fourth career 50-assist season, and Cirelli added his 23rd career shorthanded point.
Florida finished the regular season without several top contributors and will look to regroup before their opening-round rematch with the Lightning.
Tampa Bay wraps up its regular season Thursday at the New York Rangers, while Florida turns its focus to preparing for the postseason. The Battle of Florida returns in the playoffs — and if Thursday was any preview, fireworks are ahead.
