Lightning’s Kucherov, Point spoil return of playoff hockey to South Florida for Panthers

SUNRISE — It is indeed a different game when Nikita Kucherov is in the lineup for the Tampa Bay Lightning — and a different animal going against the defending champs in the postseason.

Kucherov’s three points — two goals and one assist — in his 2021 debut and Brayden Point’s two third-period goals against the Florida Panthers spoiled the first Stanley Cup playoff game in South Florida in five years, 5-4, in front of a limited-capacity sellout of 9,646 at BB&T Center on Sunday night.

Point scored the game-winning goal with 1:17 remaining, and the Panthers could not carry the momentum from their best regular season in franchise history into the start of the playoffs. After going 5-2-1 versus Tampa Bay in the regular season, Florida dropped Game 1 of the first-round series and first postseason meeting between the Sunshine State rivals.

“Intense game. There was a lot going on out there,” said Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, whose team allowed the Lightning to go 3 for 4 on the power play. “The power play was the difference [Sunday] night. Five-on-five, we’re okay, but the special teams goals there, they made some nice plays.”

Said star forward Aleksander Barkov on the notion it was a different Lightning team in Game 1 than the Panthers faced all year: “It’s still the same team playing against us, so we treat them the same way. Obviously, on our penalty kill, we’ve got to be a little bit better and take their chances away, but other than that, I really like our effort. We got to keep building on that.”

Down 3-2 entering the third, the playmaking ability of Jonathan Huberdeau, who finished with three points, swiftly put the Panthers ahead 4-3 before the Lightning rallied back.

First, Huberdeau scored on a breakaway to tie it at 3. Then, his beautiful spin and pass across the front of the Lightning net set up rookie Owen Tippett to give Florida the goal advantage. Tippett became the first Panthers rookie to score a playoff goal since David Nemirovsky in 1997 against the New York Rangers.

“It felt good. Obviously, the extended attendance [Sunday], it was awesome,” said Tippett of the environment on the go-ahead goal as BB&T Center capacity that was nearly doubled for the first-round series. “The guys build off that, and it was a great crowd.”

With 7 minutes left, however, the Lightning tied it at 4 when Point tipped in a pass from Kucherov for a third Tampa Bay power-play goal after Kucherov scored two in the second period. Defenseman Victor Hedman recorded his third assist on the goal.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who was in net for the Columbus Blue Jackets’ sweep of the Lightning in the 2019 playoffs, needed one more save against Tampa Bay’s 40 shots on goal while Florida had 39 shots against Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Vezina Trophy favorite who has struggled against the Panthers this year.

“It’s a long series,” said Bobrovsky. “We just have to put that behind [us] and be fresh for the next one. It’s 0-0 next game.”

With his pair of power-play goals in the second period, Kucherov, the star Lightning forward who spent the entire regular season recovering from hip surgery, flipped a 2-1 deficit in Tampa Bay’s favor.

Five minutes into the period, Kucherov scored on a one-timer from the right circle. Already shorthanded, Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling lost his stick before Kucherov kicked it away to clear space for the slap shot.

With 5:09 left in the second, Kucherov found the back of the net once more with the Panthers on the penalty kill again because of a tripping call against defenseman Markus Nutivaara. Hedman and forward Steven Stamkos, also back after missing the final month-plus of the regular season, were credited with assists.

Tampa Bay could’ve scored another earlier in the period were it not for forward Noel Acciari sacrificing his body to get in front of a Lightning shot off a rebound when Bobrovsky was caught to the right of the net, unaware of where the puck had ricocheted.

The Panthers led 2-1 after an action-packed first period where they got 18 shots on goal and laid 26 hits on the Lightning. Carter Verhaeghe blasted the puck past Vasilevskiy, set up by Barkov and Keith Yandle, to put Florida up a goal with 3:29 left in the period.

Earlier in the first, Barkov scored a power-play goal on a slap shot off assists from Huberdeau and Yandle midway through the first to even the score at 1.

It came shortly after the Lightning struck first as Blake Coleman scored mere seconds following a would-be Sam Bennett goal that was waved off due to a questionable goaltender interference call.

“They didn’t say anything. They said what the call was,” Quenneville said. “It was amazing that they called it off, and it could’ve been reviewed.”

Bobrovsky had multiple impressive denials early — once when Kucherov tried to go backhand on him on a breakaway. He also stopped a shot on goal in the final seconds of the first period.

The first skirmish between the cross-state foes came 3:15 into Sunday’s action. The two teams played 4-on-4 for two minutes after Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and Kucherov went to the penalty box, two minutes each for roughing.

There was another scrum behind the Lightning net late in the second period that led to minor roughing penalties on Coleman and Florida’s Ryan Lomberg.

The Panthers and Lightning return to BB&T Center for Game 2 at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.