Point's goal, two assists help Lightning beat Panthers in playoff preview
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had a goal and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 victory against the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assists and Yanni Gourde added two assists. Conor Geekie, Jake Guentzel and Darren Raddysh also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots.
Brad Marchand scored for Florida, which finished its regular season schedule. Vitek Vanecek finished with 26 saves.
The teams will meet in the opening round of the playoffs starting this weekend.
Tampa Bay scored three goals in the first period, with Point scoring 1:32 into the game. Geekie made it 2-0 with 4:35 left before Guentzel scored shorthanded with 1:51 to play in the period.
Kucherov made it 4-0 almost five minutes into the second, but Marchand answered about a minute later.
Raddysh scored a 5-on-3 power=play goal with 8:38 to play moments after Florida’s Jesse Puljujarvi was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head to Mitchell Chaffee.
Takeaways
Panthers: Florida played without regulars Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Gustav Forsling, Anton Lundell and A.J. Greer. … Marchand’s goal is his second since joining the Panthers.
Lightning: Geekie has two goals in two games since being recalled from AHL Syracuse. … Victor Hedman recorded his fourth 50-assisst season. … Anthony Cirelli recorded his 23rd career shorthanded point.
Key moment
Tampa Bay was up 2-0 late in the first period when Brandon Hagel took a double-minor to negate a Lightning power play. But seven seconds into the Florida power play, Cirelli won a puck battle against Seth Jones and fed Guentzel in front for a short-handed goal to make it 3-0.
Key stat
Kucherov reached the 120-point mark for the second consecutive season and third time in his career to become just the 14th player in NHL history with three-or-more seasons of at least 120 points.
Up Next
The Lightning finish the regular season at the New York Rangers on Thursday while the Panthers await Game 1 of their opening-round series against Tampa Bay.
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