Brandon Montour, Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the first period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 Saturday night.
Frank Vatrano and Anthony Duclair also scored, and Sam Bennett had two assists to help Florida jump one point ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Central Division. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots.
“I feel like it’s a fun game, it’s a lot of emotions and two good teams battling for points,’' Florida defenseman Markus Nutivaara said. “I love to play in these games.’'
Brayden Point, Erik Cernak and Mathieu Joseph scored for the Lightning.