Panthers win bodily battle to take Sport 1 from Lightning – NHL.com

Opener of Japanese 1st Spherical tight checking with little house till Verhaeghe's objective 58 seconds into third interval
© Joel Auerbach/Getty Photos
SUNRISE, Fla. — Matthew Tkachuk was sitting on the podium after Sport 1 of the Japanese Convention First Spherical on Sunday.
Whereas teammate Carter Verhaeghe answered a query about his game-winning objective, the Florida Panthers ahead intently studied the printed stat sheet from Florida’s 3-2 win towards the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Financial institution Enviornment and appeared a bit stunned.
“All people bought successful, that is what it says there,” Tkachuk mentioned. “I do not assume I’ve even seen that. Any person had 10. Yeah, a whole lot of hits.”
It was an ideal technique to describe the opener of the best-of-7 collection between the Florida rivals.
The Lightning had 55 hits — together with a game-high 10 from defenseman Matt Dumba — and the Panthers had 54, a team-high six from ahead Eetu Luostarinen. And as Tkachuk mentioned, each skater on the ice Sunday was credited with at the least one.
It resulted in a recreation the place there was little open ice, a mixed 10 photographs on objective within the second interval (six for Florida), and 5 targets, precisely the kind of tight checking every crew likes and expects to proceed.
“I believe it may appear to be this till anyone has to vary the way in which they’re doing [things] as a result of it is not working for them,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice mentioned. “There wasn’t sufficient sustained motion from both crew to say, ‘Yeah, we bought it.'”
R1, Gm1: Lightning @ Panthers Recap
Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose crew did not get its first shot on objective till there was 4:05 left within the first interval, mentioned he was not disenchanted with the way in which they performed.
“It is two good groups, tight checking, groups do test,” Cooper mentioned. “What now we have to do is after we get the prospect, now we have to place [the puck] behind them, however I can not sit right here and say one crew outchanced the opposite one. It was fairly tight-checking recreation, and ultimately, it was a power-play objective that did it.”
That objective belonged to Verhaeghe, who discovered simply sufficient open ice within the crease to deflect dwelling a stunning cross-ice feed from Aleksander Barkov to offer Florida a 2-1 lead 58 seconds into the third.
“I gave the puck to ‘Barky’ and went to the web,” Verhaeghe mentioned. “I did not see the go, it simply hit my stick, that is how nicely Barky can go the puck.”
The objective appeared to open issues up a bit, with Florida getting 13 photographs on objective within the third and Tampa Bay 9 after having 10 mixed by means of the primary two intervals.
When the Lightning lastly did get some house to make a play, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky shut it down, making key saves within the remaining minutes, together with a proper pad cease on Steven Stamkos‘ one-timer that finally led to Tkachuk’s empty-net objective with 2:05 left.
“I simply tried to push there and get as a lot physique as I may there,” mentioned Bobrovsky, who made 17 saves, additionally permitting a 6-on-4 objective to Stamkos with 9.3 seconds left within the recreation.
On the opposite finish, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was simply as stable, permitting a tip-in objective from Sam Reinhart at 6:17 of the primary, and Verhaeghe’s power-play objective.
Seconds after the Lightning lastly bought their first shot of the sport, they tied it, Brandon Hagel banging dwelling a rebound of a shot from Anthony Cirelli at 16:04 of the opening interval.
Maurice mentioned every goalie needed to be sharp due to the lengthy stretches of inactivity.
“I believe that is the 2 guys that had the actual problem tonight had been within the web, as a result of there have been stretches of grind,” Maurice mentioned. “They each made actually, two to 3 actually vital saves, and the blokes in entrance of each goalies labored arduous to maintain it tight. So there wasn’t lots occurring.”
Neither crew expects lots to be occurring when the best-of-7 collection resumes with Sport 2 right here Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSFL, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360). That is superb with them.
“It is probably not irritating,” Verhaeghe mentioned. “We are available right here, we count on it. Each recreation we’re taking part in towards a very good crew. It will be a tight-checking recreation. We all know they’ve weapons. They know now we have weapons.
“I believe anytime you come to one in all these video games it may be one break that wins the sport, and that is what makes it so intense and so enjoyable and thrilling.”
Cooper, who received the Stanley Cup teaching the Lightning in 2020 and 2021 and went to the Cup Ultimate in 2022, mentioned his gamers will modify and reply to something thrown at them.
“Have you ever seen us play within the playoffs for the final decade? These boys have weathered all of the frustration they probably can, and we have seen it each totally different manner,” Cooper mentioned. “Florida is an distinctive crew. They will do that. They’ve been doing this to groups all yr and they will do it to us for the remainder of the playoffs and so it is our job to battle by means of it.
“They ended up successful the sport, however there have been in all probability instances within the recreation they had been pissed off as hell, too. That is a part of playoff hockey. It’s important to battle by means of it.”
Hagel mentioned he is assured the Lightning will discover a technique to just do that.
“We have time tomorrow, just a few days to form of take a look at issues and return and attempt to discover options, however it’s a great hockey crew over there,” Hagel mentioned. “Come Sport 2, I am positive we’ll be prepared and discover a few methods, hopefully. Possibly we are able to get just a few extra pucks there, just a few extra our bodies there and provides ourselves just a few extra appears to be like.”
🔹 Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
🔹 Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
🔹 New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals
🔹 Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders
🔹 Dallas Stars vs. Vegas Golden Knights
🔹 Winnipeg Jets vs. Colorado Avalanche
🔹 Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators
🔹 Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

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