Nikita Kucherov was the catalyst for his team setting up the tying net and then scoring the insurance goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Tuesday.
The Lightning thereby took a 1-0 lead in the series between Florida clubs.
Corey Perry, who scored the first goal for Jon Cooper’s men, also had a goal and an assist.
Ross Colton and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare also hit the target for the champions of the last two Stanley Cups.
Anthony Duclair, who was left out for Game 6 against the Washington Capitals, returned to the Panthers’ roster as the team’s lone scorer.
Vasilevskiy was imperial in front of the Lightning net, allowing only one goal on 36 shots.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots in the loss.
Game 2 is Thursday at Sunrise before the series heads to Tampa Bay.
The locals got off to a good start. In the second half of the first period, Jonathan Huberdeau stopped his foray into the offensive zone and waited for the breakthrough of his counterpart on the right to give him the disc. Duclair completed the maneuver at the mouth of the net. This is the first time the Quebecer has hit the mark in the playoffs.
Late in the middle frame, on the power play, Kucherov hauled the puck in all three rounds and humiliated Aaron Ekblad. He then handed the puck to Perry, who only had to push the puck into an empty net.
At the start of the third period, the visitors took the lead following a chaotic face-off in the offensive zone. Bellemare jumped on a loose puck and hit the mark.
A few minutes later on the power play, Duclair thought he was leveling the game when he pounced on a stray puck to surprise Vasilevskiy. The goal was however overturned since the disc touched the protective net.
Kucherov returned to the charge and ended the fans’ hopes with a precise shot on the power play when there were just four minutes left in the duel. The two-goal gap seemed insurmountable given Vasilevskiy’s performance.
Still on the power play, Colton flashed the red light with a shot from the slot to make it 4-1 for the visitors.