Panthers rally late in 3rd, defeat Lightning in Game 4 of Eastern 1st Round

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored 11 seconds apart late in the third period, and the Florida Panthers rallied for a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

Ekblad tied it 2-2 at 16:13 by getting to the rebound of Sam Reinhart's shot and beating Andrei Vasilevskiy over his glove in front.

Florida then took a 3-2 lead at 16:24 when Jones’ point shot clipped Ryan McDonagh's skate and deflected under Vasilevskiy's right arm before bouncing over the goal line.

Carter Verhaeghe then scored into an empty net at 18:20 for the 4-2 final.

Florida leads the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be in Tampa on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360).

“We finished well, and it’s nice to give our fans that win,” Jones said. “We’re up 3-1 and understand the job is not finished. Both teams played hard tonight, and there were a lot of ups and downs. They scored two back-to-back, and we stuck with it pretty well and got the win at the end of the day.’’

Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves.

“We haven’t had a lot of these this year,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They have been grinders. It has been tough. We had key guys out of the lineup. … So, we don’t have the history of the comeback and that’s a little tougher. It was really important mentally to come back.’’

Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak scored, and Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning, who are the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic.

Tampa Bay was trying to match Florida by winning each of its first two road playoff games in this series.

“It was tough losing the first two at home, so we have massive challenges ahead of us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “For 115 minutes, we passed every test possible. We just had a tough 11 seconds there at the end of the game. It’s unfortunate. We played well enough to win both games, and came up a little short.’’

Lundell gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 9:06 of the second period. Brad Marchand outraced a pair of Tampa Bay defensemen into the corner to avoid an icing. He then got a pass from Eetu Luostarinen and fed Lundell in the slot for his first goal of the series.

“It was pretty much a roller coaster, but we stayed calm,” Lundell said. “We did everything we could to get a chance, and we got a chance.”

Chaffee tied it 1-1 at 12:21 when he knocked in the rebound of a shot from Emil Lilleberg. It was Chaffee's first career playoff goal.

Cernak then scored 11 seconds later to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead. Jake Guentzel won a face-off and got the puck to Cernak, who sent a wrist shot from the right circle off the far post and in.

“I thought we played well for 55 minutes of the game,” Chaffee said. “It comes down to a little stretch at the end. That happens in a game.’’

Tampa Bay held that lead until Ekblad’s goal.

“We were four minutes away from being 2-2 [in the series] and there were two quick goals,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “It’s frustrating, but we knew we needed to win three of the last four. So, now it comes down to winning the last three."

Tampa Bay played the second half of the game without forward Brandon Hagel, who left after being hit along the boards by Ekblad at 11:26 of the second. There was no update on his status following the game.

NOTES: Vasilevskiy made his 113th consecutive postseason start, which passed Ken Dryden for fifth-longest run in Stanley Cup Playoff history. … Jones scored his sixth career playoff goal, and his first with the Panthers. It was also the third-latest go-ahead goal in regulation in franchise history. ... The two goals by Jones and Ekblad were the fastest by defensemen for one team in playoff history. The previous mark was 16 seconds.