A three-goal first period provided enough of a lead for the Tampa Bay Lightning to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-1 in the team’s final home game of the 2024-25 regular season on Tuesday.
Tampa Bay is now 47-26-8.
Brayden Point scored 1:32 into the game, and the Lightning added late first-period goals from Conor Geekie and Jake Guentzel for a 3-0 cushion.
Nikita Kucherov scored to make it 4-0 before the Panthers got on the board in the second period. The Lightning closed the scoring with a power-play goal in period three.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves for the win.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, FLA 0
1:32 Brayden Point (42) - Yanni Gourde, JJ Moser
Tampa Bay burst for a 1-0 lead, as Brayden Point’s shot from the left faceoff dot hit the right post and beat Florida goalie Vitek Vanecek.
TBL 2, FLA 0
15:25 Conor Geekie (8) - Point, Victor Hedman
Shortly after the Lightning killed a penalty, rookie Conor Geekie scored his second goal in as many games with a wired one-timer from the right faceoff circle.
TBL 3, FLA 0
18:09 Jake Guentzel (41) - Anthony Cirelli - SH
The Lightning added to their lead with Jake Guentzel’s second career shorthanded goal, this one coming near the left goalpost after Anthony Cirelli forced a Florida turnover in the right corner and passed to Guentzel.
Shots on goal: TBL 8, FLA 7
Second period
TBL 4, FLA 0
4:42 Kucherov (37) - Gourde, Point
Kucherov buried a wide-open look at the right post after a tic-tac-toe passing play with Yanni Gourde and Point.
TBL 4, FLA 1
5:36 Brad Marchand (23) - Carter Verhaege, Matt Kierstad
Florida got on the scoreboard with Brad Marchand’s nearside shot in the second period.
Shots on goal: TBL 10, FLA 10
Third period
TBL 5, FLA 1
11:22 Darren Raddysh (6) - Kucherov, Hedman - PP
Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh scored on his one-timer atop a 5-on-3 power play.
Total shots: TBL 30, FLA 24
