TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided elimination with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff matchup Saturday night. Game 5 is Monday night at Florida. Only four times in 206 tries has an NHL team rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Stamkos opened the scoring during the Lightning’s three-goal first period and helped ease Florida’s sustained pressure during the opening half of the third period with his goal at 9:34 that gave Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead. Nicholas Paul added a ..read more

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz also scored for the Panthers, who will seek a sweep Saturday night in Tampa. Tkachuk had a first-period goal and added an empty-netter with 32 seconds left. “We’re playing some good hockey right now, and we’re happy with where we’re at right now in the series,” Tkachuk said. “The fourth (win) is the hardest, everyone says that, so we have ..read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — In the moment, The Save kept the game tied. By night’s end, it became a game-saver since Florida went on to prevail in overtime. And the way Panthers coach Paul Maurice sees it, the impact from Sergei Bobrovsky’s moment on Tuesday night will only continue — with a reach beyond these NHL playoffs and this series between Florida and the Tampa Bay Lightning. It won a game. It may grow the game, too. “There’ll be a number of kids in the driveway this weekend and they’ll all want to play goal for the first time,” Maurice said. “For me, that’s how it ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe lifted a backhander just under the crossbar 2:59 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in their NHL first-round playoff series. It was the fifth OT winner in Verhaeghe’s career, coming on a play where Matthew Tkachuk got the puck to Anton Lundell — who found Verhaeghe. He waited for Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to commit, then put the puck over him to end it. Sam Bennett, who left with an injury in the second period when he appeared to get hit by teammate Brandon Montour’s slap shot ..read more

The Florida Panthers are off to a roaring start in the National Hockey League playoffs as they notched a 1-0 win over the weekend. But on Tuesday, they look to defend the home ice again and hope to take a 2-0 series lead against their in-state rivals Tampa Bay Lightning. 7News cameras captured the Panthers playing a skate around as the team understand their gameplay must be crisp to secure the 2-0 lead. “I think it’s a new game. They are going to hit the reset button over there and I’m sure, you know, try to come out harder than they did last game. So, we come out and do what we did in Game On ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Here’s a sentence that has never been said: Florida leads Tampa Bay in a playoff series. And for the Panthers, that’s a great way to start. Carter Verhaeghe tapped in a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov for the lead 58 seconds into the third period, Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and an assist and the Panthers beat the Lightning 3-2 in Game 1 of their NHL playoff series Sunday. Barkov had two assists, Sam Reinhart also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky had 17 saves for the Panthers, who won a Game 1 on home ice for the first time since 1997. “Game 1 was ..read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Ordinarily at playoff time, this would be bulletin-board material: A coach in the NHL referred to the Florida Panthers as weird. Except this time, nobody minded. Because the guy who said it was Panthers coach Paul Maurice. Weird, goofy and unique are just some of the terms Maurice uses to describe his team, and he’s saying those words in the most endearing way possible. To him, they’re all badges of honor, part of the reasons why the Panthers finished with 110 points, won the Atlantic Division for the second time in three years and have a full head of steam going i ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart scored 10 seconds apart midway through the second period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night. With the victory and Boston’s 3-1 loss to Ottawa, Florida clinched the Atlantic Division title. The Panthers (52-24-6) finished with the season with a four-game win streak to make up a five-point deficit in the standings. Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour also scored for Florida, and Anthony Stolarz made 24 saves. The Panthers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of the playoffs. Mitchell Mar ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — All Florida needed was one point to ensure its postseason run would start at home. And once that task was done, Sam Reinhart decided to put an exclamation point on things. Reinhart got his 55th goal of the season with 1:02 left in overtime, and the Panthers clinched home ice for at least Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs by beating the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in the next-to-last regular-season game for both teams on Saturday. “We’re excited about the challenge ahead,” Reinhart said. “It’s starting for real pretty soon. Do what you can to get home-ice advantage. That’s the bea ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Stolarz skated out of his net, controlled a loose puck and set up the opening goal of the night for Florida. And then he turned that goal into the eventual game-winner. Stolarz stopped 25 shots and got his second assist of the season, Anton Lundell and Nick Cousins scored, and the Florida Panthers shut out the Ottawa Senators for the third time with a 2-0 victory on Tuesday night. “I’d like to add a goal to that, but I think at the end of the day the shutouts are the most important thing,” Stolarz said. It was the second instance of Florida shutting out a team thre ..read more