Panthers advance to the second round after defeating Tampa Bay in 5 games

Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and advance Florida to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves as the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers defeated their in-state rival in five games in the first round for the second consecutive season.

“I know every year is gets harder and harder, and this series was really hard,” Barkov said. “So, we’re happy with the end result.”

The Panthers will play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, which Toronto currently leads 3-2. Game 6 is Thursday.

Nick Paul, Gage Goncalves and Jake Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves. Since advancing to three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020-2022, the Lightning have lost in the first round for the past three seasons. Tampa Bay fell to 1-9 in the past 10 home playoff games.

“We have a group in here that we really believe in, and that’s not going to change going forward,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. ”Three straight years, we’re knocked out in the first round, so we’re going to have to put a stop to that next year.”

Bennett, who took a penalty that led to Tampa Bay’s tying goal, scored with 4:47 left in the second period just six seconds after he came out of the penalty box, beating Vasilevskiy to the far post on the stick side to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 lead.

“It’s not a good feeling being in the box twice there, and especially after they scored one,” Bennett said. ”So, a little anxious in the box there, but was able to come out, and (Lundell) made a great play to find me. Definitely a little weight off my shoulders.”

Tampa Bay scored the opening goal for the first time in the series when Goncalves scored 2:33 into the game. But Florida answered with a power-play goal from Verhaeghe at 5:21 and Lundell redirected a Brad Marchand pass at 10:06.

Paul pulled the Lightning even at 12:16 of the first with his second goal of the series.

Barkov tipped in a Gustav Forsling shot 52 seconds into the second to put Florida back in front before Guentzel snapped an 0-for-16 power-play slump for Tampa Bay at 9:57.

Luostarinen scored at 13:02 if the third period and Reinhart added an empty net goal with 4:24 left to push the Panthers past the Lightning again.

Either Tampa Bay or Florida has represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final each of the past five seasons.

“Two teams right in their prime, very competitive,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl