TAMPA, Fla — Nate Schmidt scored his third goal in two games, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Sam Bennett added an empty-netter with 4 seconds left. Bobrovsky got his fourth career playoff shutout, and his first since Game 1 of last year’s Stanley Cup final against Edmonton.
Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves for Tampa Bay.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be Saturday at Sunrise.
Schmidt, who scored twice in Game 1, got the Panthers on the scoreboard 4:15 into the game following an icing call against Tampa Bay. Aleksander Barkov won the faceoff clean back to Sam Reinhart who passed it over to Schmidt for a one-timer from the right circle that beat Vasilevskiy.
The goal came after Tampa Bay misfired on two open looks when Jake Guentzel was alone at the post and missed the net 53 seconds in, then Brayden Point was open between the hashmarks and put a backhand chance wide at 1:52.
The Lightning, who finished fifth in the league on the power play in the regular season, went 0 for 5 and were held to just two shots on goal on the advantages.
Barkov left the game midway through the third period after a hit from Brandon Hagel, who received a five-minute major for interference on the play at 9:51. Barkov did not return.
"These should be freak accidents, not a natural disaster"
Dozens of Florida State University students and community allies marched through the streets of Tallahassee on Wednesday, demanding urgent action from state lawmakers on gun reform after a deadly campus shooting that left two dead and at least six others wounded.
