(Tampa) Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided elimination by winning 6-3 against the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
The fifth game of this first round series is scheduled for Monday evening in Florida.
Stamkos opened the scoring in a first period that saw the Lightning score three goals. The attacker scored again in the third period, making the score 5-3.
“The odds aren’t very good when you’re down 3-0,” Stamkos said. At 3-1, they are a little better. Hopefully after the next game it will be 3-2 and our chances will be even better. That’s how we see it. »
Nicholas Paul completed the scoring with 3:38 remaining on a five-on-three power play.
“We were a little slow,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. Then, we experienced some difficulties with our special teams, which often means a complicated game. We have to stay out of the penalty box. »
Brandon Hagel scored twice and had an assist, while Brayden Point found the back of the net and added two assists. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman both had three assists and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy blocked 22 shots.
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was back in the Lightning lineup. The latter underwent surgery on February 8 on his left leg, due to fractures to the tibia and fibula. Sergachev got an assist.
Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in the loss and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Stamkos became the third player in Lightning history to score 100 points in the playoffs, in addition to overtaking Ondrej Palat (48) for second place among scorers, with 50.