Panthers hit Lightning, Matthew Tkachuk scores 5 points

Matthew Tkachuk scored five points as the Florida Panthers returned from the All-Star break to beat the rival Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-1, in Sunrise, Florida on Monday.

Two days after earning MVP honors on home ice and leading the Atlantic Division to a 7-5 win over the Central Division in the NHL All-Star Game final, Tkachuk had two points and three assists as Florida broke its seven-game losing streak. bottom. Lightning (regular season and postseason).

Carter Verhaeghe added two goals and two assists while Sam Bennett had one goal and two assists for Florida. His second line of Tkachuk, Bennett and Verhaeghe finished with a total of 12 points and a combined plus 13 rating.

Etu Luostalinen and Eric Stahl also scored goals for the Panthers. He’s 6-2-2 in his last 10 games with the Panthers. Brandon his Montour assist extended his club-record winning streak as a defender to ten games. Aaron Ekblad had two helpers for him.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovski made 32 saves, but captain Alexander Barkov was injured in the second period after blocking a shot and did not return.

Florida’s Paul Morris became the sixth NHL coach to record 800 wins.

Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevsky scored seven goals on 49 shots. Four-line left winger Vladislav Namestnikov skated in his 600th game. Tampa Bay achieved his third straight win.

In Florida’s offensive zone, the home team led 1-0 after Tkachuk stole a pass from defenseman Erik Cernak. He sprinted down the left circle to feed Verhaeghe, who went one-timer with his 27th goal at 8:04 of the first period.

Second, Tkachuk continued to hand out helpers. He deftly slid a pass from Lightning just behind his net to a wide-open Bennett who scored his 13th marker at 1:42.

Just 82 seconds later, Bobrovski was blocked by traffic, and Kucherov hit a long shot from the top to score his 20th shot.

However, Tkachuk answered at 8:40 just after the first power play of the game ended, controlling Verhaeghe’s shot and controlling the puck to score his 26th goal.

Barkov left second, but the Panthers added when Luo Stalinen deflected Montour’s shot at 17:56 to make it 4-1.

After Stahl jammed his eighth goal into the open net following a Vasilevskiy misplay at 2:53 in the third, Verhege scored at 5:26 and Tkaczuk scored one home on a power play at 14:23. I tipped.

Tkachuk leads the NHL with 22 points since Jan. 10.

–Field level media