The Florida Panthers defense of their Stanley Cup championship is off to a fast start, and the return of Matthew Tkachuk is a big reason why.
Tkachuk hadn’t played since Feb. 15, when he sustained a lower-body injury when playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. But he scored two power-play goals in his first NHL game in more than two months, helping the defending Cup champs take the home-ice advantage away from the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-2 victory in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning have revenge on their minds after losing their opening-round series to the Panthers in five games a year ago. Unlike that series, Tampa Bay earned the home-ice advantage by finishing second in the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of Florida, this season. That’s no mean consideration; the Lightning were 29-8-4 at Amalie Arena but just 18-19-4 on the road.
However, the Lightning spent Game 1 playing catch-up, first after a sensational airborne deflection by Sam Bennett put the Panthers up 1-0 just 3:44 into the game. Jake Guentzel’s power-play goal at 12:21 got Tampa Bay even at 1-1. But Sam Reinhart beat Victor Hedman out of the right corner and tipped Dmitry Kulikov’s shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 19:15 to put Florida ahead to stay.
Three goals by Florida, including two by Tkachuk, in a 5:03 span of the second period blew the game wide open. Tampa Bay cut the deficit to 5-2 before the end of the period on a goal by Brayden Point. But Nate Schmidt’s power-play goal 5:09 into the third period ended any hopes of a Lightning comeback and sent many in the sellout crowd of 19,092 heading for the exits.
The Game 1 loss puts extra pressure on the Lightning to win Game 2 at home on Thursday. They already know they’ll need one victory at Amerant Bank Arena to regain the home-ice advantage. But having to win twice on the road might be asking too much, even for a team with stars like Vasilevskiy, Hedman and NHL scoring champion Nikita Kucherov.
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3 takeaways from Panthers’ 6-2 win against Lightning in Game 1
1. Tkachuk makes instant impact in return
The Panthers knew when Tkachuk was injured that they were all but assured of making the playoffs, so they focused on making sure he was healthy for the postseason instead of rushing back in the regular season. Florida was 16-12-2 without him after 31-19-2 with him in the lineup before the 4 Nations tournament, and he scored goals in each of the Panthers’ final six games before being injured.
Losing Tkachuk for more than a third of the season hurt. But his play in Game 1 more than justified Florida’s strategy.
Tkachuk’s needless roughing penalty midway through the first period resulted in Guentzel’s game-tying goal. But he more than atoned for it by scoring twice with the extra man in less than five minutes of the second period. The first goal came at 4:55 when he was left alone in front. He made it 4-1 at 9:44 when his shot from the lower right circle into a crowd of players in front of the net hit a defender’s leg and found the back of the net.
If there was ever any doubt that the Panthers are a Cup contender with Tkachuk in the lineup, his Game 1 showing ended them.
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2. Costly challenge by Lightning
The game turned in a 14-second stretch early in the second period, when Florida scored twice to take a 4-1 lead.
Schmidt banged a loose puck into an open net 4:41 into the second period to put Florida up 3-1. But the Lightning challenged for goaltender interference, contending that the puck came loose because an attacker had run into Vasilevskiy.
ESPN analyst and longtime NHL referee Dave Jackson quickly said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper had erred in making the challenge. He was right – the goal stood and the Lightning received a bench minor for delay of game.
Florida wasted little time capitalizing. A blown coverage by the Lightning penalty-killers resulted in Tkachuk being left alone 10 feet in front of the net to take a quick pass from Aleksander Barkov, make a deke and zip a shot through Vasilevskiy’s pads. All of a sudden, what had been a one-goal game turned into a three-goal hole that was too big for Tampa Bay to dig out of.
3. Bad night for Vasilevskiy
This is one game tape Vasilevskiy won’t want to see again.
The two-time Stanley Cup winner had one of the worst playoff showings of a career that will likely end with induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He allowed six goals – two each by Tkachuk and Schmidt – on Florida’s first 15 shots. Though the Panthers were on their game and the Lightning were not, Vasilevskiy never made the “big” save that a team needs from its star goalie on a night when things aren’t going well.
He was particularly vulnerable on the power play. Not only did the Panthers score on all three of their extra-man situations, they did it on just three shots.
Vasilevskiy came into the playoffs after a season that saw him finish with a career-best 2.18 goals-against average and help the Lightning allow the fourth-fewest goals per game in the League (2.63). Tampa Bay can’t afford another off-night by Vasilevskiy if it has any hopes of winning the series.