Brayden Point tied the game with a power-play goal at the 13-minute mark and then converted on a breakaway with 1:14 left in regulation to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 5-4 comeback win over the Florida Panthers in an intense opening game in the best-of-seven series that’s been 27 years in the making.
Tampa Bay went 3-for-4 on the power-play with Nikita Kucherov, playing in his first game of the season, beating Sergei Bobrovsky twice in the second period with one-timers from the right circle. Blake Coleman opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 7:42 into the first period as Florida’s lousy performance on special teams, in large part, cost them the game.