TAMPA, Fla. – Nate Schmidt scored his third goal in two games, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Sam Bennett added an empty-netter with 4 seconds left. Bobrovsky got his fourth career playoff shutout, and his first since Game 1 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton.
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Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves for Tampa Bay.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be Saturday on the Panthers' ice at Sunrise.
“I liked some things that we did in our own end very, very well,″ Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They’re a dynamic offensive team, so there’s always places we can get better.″
Schmidt, who scored twice in Game 1, got the Panthers on the scoreboard 4:15 into the game following an icing call against Tampa Bay. Aleksander Barkov won the faceoff clean back to Sam Reinhart who passed it over to Schmidt for a one-timer from the right circle that beat Vasilevskiy.
“He needs to keep shooting the puck,″ Florida defenseman Seth Jones said of Schmidt. ”He’s got a great shot, he’s being aggressive right now. It’s great to see.″
The goal came after Tampa Bay misfired on two open looks when Jake Guentzel was alone at the post and missed the net 53 seconds in, then Brayden Point was open between the hashmarks and put a backhand chance wide at 1:52.
“I thought we had enough chances in a game this tight,″ Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”Some nights they go in, actually, most nights they go in, tonight, they didn’t, unfortunately. It’s tough.″
The Lightning, who finished fifth in the league on the power play in the regular season, went 0 for 5 and were held to just two shots on goal on the advantages.
“I think the entries were not as good tonight,″ Point said. “They did a good job at the line, and that’s something that we have to look at. We’ll do video and all that stuff to try to be better in the next one.″
Barkov left the game midway through the third period after a hit from Brandon Hagel, who received a five-minute major for interference on the play at 9:51. Barkov did not return.
Maurice did not have an update on Barkov’s condition after the game.
The Lightning were the highest-scoring team in the league during the regular season — averaging 3.56 goals per game — but have been held to two goals through two games in the series. Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov, who led the league with 121 points, has been held to one assist and three shots on goal.
“They grind, they keep their offense to the outside,″ Bobrovsky said of his teammates. "The guys have a great gap, great box outs, all those little details.″
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL