Stamkos, Lightning start fast, hold off Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 47 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who held off the Florida Panthers for a 5-3 win at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games for the Lightning (36-25-6), who have won three in a row.

“This is a game we needed the two points, and that’s a really good team over there," Stamkos said. “Vasilevskiy was great, and we capitalized on our chances. We needed those points."

Sam Reinhart scored twice, and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (45-19-4), who have lost two in a row. Sergei Bobrovsky made 11 saves.

Florida, which has fallen behind by at least three goals in each of its past three games, will have four days off before its next game, at home against the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

“We have four days of rest, which we need, although that’s not an excuse. We had 50 shots,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We need to get our mental edge back.”

Stamkos gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 20 seconds into the first period when his pass for Brandon Hagel on a 2-on-1 hit the right skate of Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour and deflected into the net.

Michael Eyssimont made it 2-0 at 13:21. His initial shot on a breakaway was stopped by the right pad of Bobrovsky, but Eyssimont quickly jammed the rebound five-hole.

Darren Raddysh pushed it to 3-0 at 3:02 of the second period, taking a cross-ice pass from Anthony Duclair and roofing a shot blocker side from the top of the right circle.

Josh Mahura appeared to score 36 seconds later to cut it to 3-1. However, following a video review initiated by the officials, the call was reversed after it was confirmed that a match penalty should be assessed to Dmitry Kulikov for an illegal hit to the head against Conor Sheary.

The teams skated at 4-on-4 for the following two minutes because of a roughing penalty to Eyssimont, but after the power play had begun, Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was assessed a minor for hooking at 6:51, resulting in a 5-on-3 power play for the Lightning.

Stamkos then scored eight seconds into the two-man advantage with a one-timer from the left circle to extend the lead to 4-0.

Florida would outshoot Tampa Bay 37-3 the rest of the game.

“I don’t look at the shot clock, I look at the goal clock,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “In the end, we put ourselves in position in the first 25-30 minutes of that game. ... The right team was leading the game. We did everything right to put ourselves in that spot, and we did everything to give it back to them. ... If you’re going to give a team like that that many chances with the extra guy, it can pose a problem.”

Tkachuk made it 4-1 with his first career short-handed goal at 8:23. He elected to shoot on a 3-on-1 rush and beat Vasilevskiy blocker side from the right circle.

“We definitely played way better when it got to 4-0, but we cannot let it get to 4-0," Tkachuk said. "Hey, that is on us. We gave up way too many good chances early, and that is not our game. That is not what is going to make us successful."

Reinhart cut it to 4-2 at 11:55 of the second, picking up a loose puck at the edge of the crease for a power-play goal.

“We took way too many penalties and put some stress on the [penalty kill], but [Vasilevskiy] made some great saves," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We were able to weather the storm. We are not going to apologize for two points."

Reinhart scored his second of the game to make it 4-3 at 16:08 of the third period. He skated around the back of the net, poked the puck away from Matt Dumba, and scored from a sharp angle with Vasilevskiy out of position.

However, Kucherov shot into an empty net at 18:28 for the 5-3 final.

“Very good goaltending on the other side,” Reinhart said. “We had some good looks, so give him credit. But that second half, that’s the game we want to play.”

NOTES: Stamkos’ power-play goal was his 209th in the NHL, tying Gordie Howe (209 with the Detroit Red Wings) for the fourth-most with one franchise in League history. The only players with more: Alex Ovechkin (307 with the Washington Capitals), Mario Lemieux (236 with the Pittsburgh Penguins), and Luc Robitaille (210 with the Los Angeles Kings). … Kucherov has 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) during his point streak. ... Reinhart has 32 goals on special teams this season (27 on the power play, five short-handed). Only six players in NHL history have had at least that many in a season: Lemieux (three times, with the most being 44 in 1988-89), Joe Nieuwendyk (34 in 1987-88), Tim Kerr (34 in 1985-86), Leon Draisaitl (33 in 2022-23), Dave Andreychuk (32 in 1992-93), and Wayne Gretzky (32 in 1983-84).