The Florida Panthers came storming out of the gates, immediately taking full possession of the puck and pinning the Lightning in their end.
During that same moment, forward Evgenii Dadonov got a piece of a point shot with his stick, but the puck trickled just wide of the post.
Off a rush moments later, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev tripped Mike Hoffman as he was prepared to blow by him at center ice. The Panthers received their first power play of the game but failed to cash in.
On a delayed penalty call that was going to Vincent Trocheck, the Bolts were playing keep-away with an extra skater (pulled Vasilevskiy) in the Panthers’ end.