The Florida Panthers are one win away from advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, thanks to a dramatic third-period surge that stunned the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Down 2-1 with under four minutes to play, the Panthers flipped the script in a matter of seconds. Defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored 11 seconds apart—the fastest goals by defensemen from the same team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history—to complete a thrilling comeback and lift Florida to a 4-2 victory in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena. The Panthers now lead the Eastern Conference first-round series 3-1.
Florida had only managed three shots on goal in the third period until Ekblad buried a rebound with 3:47 remaining to tie the game. The crowd barely had time to settle before Jones fired the go-ahead goal, silencing the Lightning and energizing the home fans.
Anton Lundell scored Florida’s first goal midway through the second period, and Carter Verhaeghe sealed the win with an empty-net goal. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was solid with 18 saves.
“This team never quits,” Ekblad said after the game. “We were frustrated early, but we stuck with it. To come back like that—it’s huge.”
The game was not without controversy. Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel exited in the second period after taking a high hit to the chin from Ekblad. Hagel, who had just returned from a one-game suspension for a hit that sidelined Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, did not return. No penalty was called on the play.
That hit added another chapter to a series growing increasingly physical and contentious. Monday’s game featured yet another ejection: Florida’s Niko Mikkola received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Zemgus Girgensons, who was on his knees at the time of the hit. The sequence followed other controversial moments earlier in the series, including a major penalty assessed to Matthew Tkachuk in Game 3 for a late hit on Jake Guentzel.
For Tampa Bay, the loss was a gut punch. The Lightning had gained momentum in the second period with quick-strike goals from Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak—also scored 11 seconds apart—to take a 2-1 lead. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots but was unable to hold off Florida’s late push.
Florida appeared to tie the game earlier in the third on a second goal from Ekblad, but Tampa successfully challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned.
Despite the setback, Ekblad—playing just his second game after serving a 20-game suspension—got redemption, triggering Florida’s game-changing flurry with a powerful follow-up goal.
The Panthers can clinch the series in Game 5, set for Wednesday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The Lightning will need to find answers quickly if they hope to extend their postseason hopes.
“Now it’s about closing,” Jones said. “They’re a dangerous team, and we’ve got to be ready for their push.”
Can the Panthers close out the series in hostile territory, or will Tampa Bay respond with its season on the line?
