Lightning cruise past Panthers, finish 2nd in Atlantic race

TAMPA -- Brayden Point had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay, which finished as the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-0 victory at the Buffalo Sabres earlier Tuesday, will face the Panthers in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning will have home-ice advantage against the Panthers, who finished third.

"Obviously, they're going to have a different lineup in Game 1, but we've played them close all year," Point said. "All of our playoff series have been really close and that's what we're expecting. We've got a few days and a game to try to sharpen up and be ready for it."

Said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe: "I think it's great. I think we've played these guys four of the last five years, I think. It's always a battle and it's going to be a good matchup. They're a really good team and it's going to take a lot from us."

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Victor Hedman and Yanni Gourde each had two assists for the Lightning (47-26-8), who had lost two of three. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves.

"Two points for us and prove why 'Kuch' should be MVP," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. ''‘Vasy' has a really good chance to win the Vezina (Trophy). ... [Hedman] up for the Norris (Trophy). A lot of good players doing good things. That's what I saw."

Brad Marchand scored for the Panthers (47-31-4), who played their final regular-season game and were coming off a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday. Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves.

"That's an example of nine games in 15 days," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "Carter Verhaeghe looks like he's back. I loved [Evan Rodrigues'] game tonight. I don't think we lost any more players, which is a nice change for us. ... So, get home, tape it together and come back."

Point gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 1:32 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Vanecek to the far post.

Conor Geekie made it 2-0 at 15:25 with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Point.

"You can look at what we did and there's parts of our game I liked," Point said. "We can build on that, and we still have one to play here. Just look at what we did, take the good and learn from the bad."

Jake Guentzel extended it 3-0 with a short-handed goal at 18:09. Anthony Cirelli stole the puck from Seth Jones along the boards and found Guentzel open in the low slot for a one-timer in the low slot.

Kucherov pushed it to 4-0 at 4:42 of the second period. Gourde faked a shot from the slot and found him open at the bottom of the right circle for a shot into the open net.

"We took care of the things that we could control and it was a good game," Gourde said. "We have to continue to play to our system, do the small little things, play to our strengths, keep building on that mentality and working on those details."

Marchand made it 4-1 at 5:36 when he finished a 2-on-1 rush with a wrist shot that beat Vasilevskiy low glove side. It was his second goal with Florida since being acquired from the Boston Bruins on March 7.

"We were a little slow and we were a little off on the forecheck," Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen said. "But we'll skate a couple of days and rest before [the playoffs]."

Darren Raddysh scored a power-play goal, on a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Kucherov, at 11:22 of the third period for the 5-1 final.

"There were a lot of question marks about what this team was going to look like after we lost a cornerstone of our organization," Cooper said in reference to longtime forward Steven Stamkos signing with the Nashville Predators last offseason. "I think there was a lot of uncertainty about how things were going to play out. If you look back from then to now, we've got 100-plus points. Not only did we make the playoffs, but we found a way to get home ice."

NOTES: Kucherov leads the NHL with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists). He reached 120 points for the third time in his career (144 in 2023-24 and 128 in 2018-19). ... Hedman reached the 50-assist mark for the fourth time in his career. ... Verhaeghe, who had an assist, has six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game streak. ... Panthers forward Jesse Puljujarvi received a match penalty for a check to the head against Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee. "That's an unfortunate situation," Cooper said.