Tkachuk stars with two goals in return as Panthers top Lightning in series opener

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk had two power-play goals and an assist in his first game after a two-month absence and the Florida Panthers opened defense of their Stanley Cup title with a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night in the first game of the first-round playoff series.

Nate Schmidt scored on a power play and finished with two goals, and Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart each added a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves.

Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 10 stops.

The Lightning played the final 33:30 without center Anthony Cirelli. There was no immediate word why the 27-year-old center was out.

The teams meet for Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday at Amalie Arena.

“Both teams will look at the game to find things they can do better somewhere,'' Florida head coach Paul Maurice said. ”It’ll be a complete reset by both teams for the next one.''

Tkachuk was playing for the first time in more than two months after dealing with a lower-body injury. He scored twice in the second period. Those two goals put Florida up 4-1 — the second goal for the Panthers in a 14-second span — and the next one pushing the lead to 5-1 midway through the second.

“I felt there was some plays in the game where I wish I could have back,'' Tkachuk said. "But I feel great.''

Bennett had opened the scoring at 3:44 of the first, batting a puck out of the air. Guentzel responded for Tampa Bay, scoring with a man advantage at 12:21. The Panthers regained the lead when Reinhart tipped in a shot by Dmitry Kulikov with 45 seconds remaining the first.

"They get a 2-1 lead, and it gets momentum on their side,'' Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said.

The Panthers broke the game open early in the second when Schmidt scored on a rebound at 4:41. Tampa Bay lost a challenge for goaltender interference on the play, and Tkahchuk scored his first on the ensuing power play — 14 seconds later — and added a second at 9:44.

“You have to stop that bleeding,'' Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. ”We give up that third one, the challenge didn’t go our way, and we give up another one right away. That’s tough.''

Point cut the deficit to 5-2 at 13:04 of the second. Schmidt added Florida's third power-play goal off a pass from Tkachuk at 5:09 of the third.

“I think overall, we were solid today and did a lot of good things,'' Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. ”I liked most of our game.''

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