The Battle of Florida in the 2022 NHL Playoffs began on Tuesday night. Coming off a series win over the Washington Capitals, the Florida Panthers were set to host their in-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were coming off a series win over the Maple Leafs.
Florida opened the scoring in this game early on but beyond that, it was all Tampa. The Bolts dominated the third period to take the win in Game 1, 4-1.
Recap
The Panthers opened the scoring in this game. Halfway through the first period, Anthony Duclair scored his first career playoff goal.
Florida held their lead for most of the second period until near the end of the frame. Corey Perry scored on the power play to even the score in this hockey game.
The third period belonged to Tampa. Pierre Edouard Bellemare scored early in the period to give Tampa the 2-1 lead. Later in the frame, Nikita Kucherov scored to put the Bolts up 3-1. Ross Colton would score Tampa’s last goal towards the end of the game to help seal the win for the Lightning.
In a losing effort, Sergei Bobrovsky went 32-36 with a save percentage of .889%. Andrei Vasilevsky, meanwhile, was dominant and went 33-34 with a save percentage of .971%.
Up Next
The Panthers look to even things up in Game 2 on Thursday night.