The Backcheck: Lightning start fast to beat Panthers in final regular season home game

Brayden Point set the tone for the Tampa Bay Lightning 1 minute, 32 seconds into the final home game of the regular season on Tuesday as the hosts cruised to a 5-1 victory over Florida.

Tampa Bay is 47-26-8 after Tuesday and will close the regular season with a visit to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers on Thursday.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs winning on Tuesday, the Lightning will open the first round of the playoffs by hosting the Panthers.

“We’ve played each other in the playoffs a lot here in the last few years,” Point said of facing Florida. “They’re always tight-checking and close games, and I expect nothing less come this year.”

Point’s goal on Tuesday got the fans at AMALIE Arena on their feet early.

Defenseman JJ Moser made a breakout pass to Yanni Gourde on the right wall, and Gourde flew a backhand pass to Point at the left side of the offensive blue line. Point entered the zone and beat Panthers goalie Vitek Vanecek with his shot from the left faceoff circle.

Tuesday’s game marked the 25th time this season that the Lightning have scored in the opening five minutes of a game, most in the NHL.

“He (Moser) ended up passing to me, which brought one more defender to me and then I was able to just put it into space for Brayden,” Gourde said. “I read the play, I saw there was an opening over there and I was hoping Pointer was coming with speed, and obviously tremendous shot to beat the goalie there.”

Tampa Bay didn’t rest on their 1-0 lead, adding two more goals before the end of the first period.

Shortly after a successful Lightning penalty kill, Conor Geekie’s one-timer from the right circle gave the home team a 2-0 advantage with 4:35 left in the opening period.

Jake Guentzel made it 3-0 with his first shorthanded goal since 2019 at the left goalpost following Anthony Cirelli’s pass from the right corner with 1:51 remaining in the opening period. Guentzel’s goal was his 41st of the season, establishing a new career high.

Nikita Kucherov’s league-leading 120th point of the season came on a goal which made it 4-0 Lightning just 4:42 into the second period. Kucherov is just the 14th player in NHL history to record three 120-point seasons.

Point gloved down the puck at the right wall and fed Gourde in the high slot, where the latter dished to a wide-open Kucherov at the right post for a tap-in goal.

Florida scored its first goal 5:36 into the second period on Brad Marchand’s near-post shot. That was the lone puck to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on the night, as the Lightning goalie finished with 23 saves for his 38th win of the season.

Point led Tampa Bay with three points. Kucherov and Gourde each finished the night with two points, as did Victor Hedman (two assists).

Coach Jon Cooper’s takeaways from Tuesday were pretty straightforward.

"Two points for us, and proof why Kuch should be MVP. Vasy really good chance to win the Vezina. Heddy up for the Norris. A lot of good players doing good things. That's what I saw.”

Darren Raddysh closed the scoring with his 5-on-3 power-play goal midway through the third period to establish the 5-1 final score.

The Lightning will close the regular season against the Rangers on Thursday. As they prepare for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Cooper likes how the regular season has unfolded.

“I could just check a whole bunch of boxes of, it’s pretty impressive what this team has accomplished. That’s through 81 games, and we’ve put ourselves in a position to vie for a Stanley Cup. There’s 32 teams, there’s only 16 left. We’re one of the 16, that’s what we wanted to do,” Cooper said.

“I think every year we get looked at as, ‘Okay, their times over.’ And every year these guys come back and prove they can do it. So, it’s been amazing to be part of for over a decade. And hopefully this group wants to make many more memories. We have memories ahead of us to make, so I’m excited to see what we can do in these playoffs.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Brayden Point, TBL (Goal, 2 Assists)

2. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (Goal, Assist)

3. Yanni Gourde, TBL (2 Assists)