Luostarinen has 4 points, Panthers eliminate Lightning in Game 5 of East 1st Round

TAMPA -- Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists, and the Florida Panthers eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-3 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

The Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions, will face the Toronto Maple Leafs or Ottawa Senators in the second round. The Maple Leafs lead that best-of-7 series 3-2 with Game 6 on Thursday.

Anton Lundell had a goal and two assists, Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist and Brad Marchand had two assists for the Panthers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

"It means a lot and obviously we're doing some things right," Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. "Most of the guys have been through this for a long time. We know what it takes, and we keep working for that. Every year it gets harder and harder ... this year has been really hard, but we're happy with the end result."

Florida has eliminated Tampa Bay from the playoffs in consecutive seasons. The Panthers advanced to the second round for the fourth straight season.

"Two teams right in their prime, very competitive men,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Tampa has had success, so it got nasty this year because of the playoffs last year and the fact that we're rivals, but we're also in the same place with our teams ... legitimate teams."

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves and Victor Hedman had two assists for the Lightning, the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic.

The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the third consecutive season.

"They have an exceptional team, not just an average team, they have an exceptional team," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "There's only a few teams in the last little while that really know how to [win in the playoffs consistently]. We were one of them and now they're one of them. It's unfortunate we've had to run into them. Whether this series they swept us, or it was 4-1 or 4-2 ... to me that's kind of irrelevant. They beat us."

Gage Goncalves gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 2:33 of the first period when he chipped the puck into an open cage off a redirection from Luke Glendening that took Bobrovsky out of position.

Carter Verhaeghe tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 5:21. Playing net front, Verhaeghe took control of a loose puck and slipped it past Vasilevskiy.

Lundell gave Florida a 2-1 advantage at 10:06. Marchand sent the puck to the net, and after it deflected off Lundell's shin, he gathered the puck to score from close range.

Nick Paul tied it 2-2 at 12:16 with a whiparound shot from the slot after Conor Geekie was able to keep the puck in the zone.

"They are a good team and so are we, but I feel like it was a closer series this year than last year," Hedman said. "At the end of the day it's the same result. We're obviously very disappointed in the outcome of this series. Just congratulate them and wish them the best of luck."

Barkov put the Panthers back ahead 3-2 at :52 of the second period with a redirect off a shot from Gustav Forsling.

Jake Guentzel tied it with a power-play goal at 9:57 when he sent a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Bobrovsky on the glove side.

"I thought the games were close, they just found ways to win and we didn't," Lightning forward Brayden Point said. "When we had the lead we couldn't extend it, when it was a tied game, they found a way to score, and we didn't. Give a lot of credit to them, but I thought they were close games."

Sam Bennett made it 4-3 at 15:13 when he jumped out of the penalty box to create a 2-on-1 rush and finished it with a snap shot that beat Vasilevskiy on the stick side.

"It's not a good feeling being in the box twice there, especially after they scored one," Bennett said. "I was a little anxious in the box there, but I was able to come out and 'Lundy' made a great play to find me, and I was able to put it in. Definitely a little weight off my shoulders."

Luostarinen extended the lead to 5-3 at 13:02 in the third period, chipping in a puck from the low slot off a centering pass from Marchand. Reinhart added an empty-net goal at 15:36 for the 6-3 final.

"He's been great ever since he came to the Panthers and he's a great guy to have around," Barkov said of Luostarinen. "You see how much skill he has that maybe doesn't always show up on the scoresheet. He kills penalties with his high hockey IQ, he's really good on the forecheck ... and today he got rewarded with four points. He has been very important for us since he got here, and he keeps getting better."

NOTES: Luostarinen's four points set a Panthers record for a road playoff game, and he became the first player in club history with four points in a potential series-clinching game. … Tampa Bay has lost nine of its past 10 playoff games at Amalie Arena. ... Verhaeghe scored in consecutive games. ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has not scored in 15 straight playoff games. ...Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk had an assist and finished with five points (three goals, two assists) for the series. ... The Lightning were 2-for-18 on the power play in the series.