Still, things didn’t start well for the Lightning. The Panthers struck first when Sam Bennett drove to the net. He mishandled the puck, but it caromed directly to Matthew Tkachuk at the other side of the crease. Tkachuk slid it into an open net at 2:43.

A Lightning power play was negated after the second-period horn when Anthony Cirelli was called for roughing. But Tampa Bay opened the third by scoring in the final seconds of 4-on-4 play (before Florida went on the power play) on Jake Guentzel’s third goal of the series just 21 seconds into the third period.

The Florida Panthers had a chance to put a stranglehold on their opening round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in Sunrise.