Point lifts Lightning to Game 1 win over Panthers

Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning scores the game winning goal against the Florida Panthers in Game One of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)

Brayden Point’s second goal of the game with 74 seconds remaining was the winner and Nikita Kucherov tallied two goals and an assist in his first game of the season as the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning claimed a thrilling 5-4 victory over the Florida Panthers in the opening clash of their Stanley Cup playoffs series Sunday in Sunrise, Florida. Blake Coleman also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champions, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for the Lightning in a back-and-forth contest that featured five lead changes. Tampa star defenceman Victor Hedman collected three assists. Jonathan Huberdeau scored once in a three-point outing, while Aleksander Barkov and Owen Tippett collected one goal and one assist for the Panthers. Carter Verhaeghe also scored and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 35 shots. The Panthers will host Game 2 of the best-of-seven playoff series - the first ever between the Sunshine State rivals - on Tuesday. With the hosts leading 4-3, thanks to a pair of third-period goals, Point netted Tampa Bay’s third power-play goal of the night with exactly seven minutes remaining in regulation. Then, as overtime loomed, Point converted a breakaway to make the difference. Coleman’s short-handed goal put the defending Stanley Cup champions on the board first. He zipped into the offensive zone and was fed a pass at full speed from Yanni Gourde before depositing a backhand at the 7:42 mark. However, the hosts responded with a pair of goals by the first intermission. Barkov’s power-play goal, a rocket of a one-timer while at the top of the right circle, tied the game two minutes after Coleman’s goal. Then Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead at the 16:31 mark with his own one-timer from the high slot. That was just the beginning of the back-and-forth action. Kucherov, Tampa’s all-time playoff leader in goals, assists and points, made his season debut after missing the entire regular season following hip surgery in December. He made his presence felt plenty in the second period, tying the score with a power-play marker five minutes into the frame. He potted his second man-advantage goal 10 minutes later with another one-timer from nearly the same spot, the right faceoff dot. Huberdeau took over for the first part of the third period, pulling the Panthers even again when he converted a breakaway 87 seconds into the final frame, and then made a brilliant pass - a spin-a-rama after he went across the edge of the crease - to set up Tippett for a tap-in tally that made it a 4-3 for the hosts.Palmieri’s OT winner lifts Islanders past Penguins Kyle Palmieri’s second goal of the game at 16:30 of overtime lifted the visiting New York Islanders a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in Game 1 of an East Division playoff series. Palmieri, from a sharp angle, beat Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry with a high shot. Jean-Gabriel Pageau added a goal and two assists and Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders. New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves in his NHL playoff debut. No. 1 goaltender Semyon Varlamov was injured last week but had been expected to be available. Frederick Gaudreau, captain Sidney Crosby and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Penguins. Jarry made 37 saves. Pittsburgh played without center Evgeni Malkin, who was able to practice last week after tweaking something in the final regular-season game. New York took a 1-0 lead on Palmieri’s first goal at 7:58 of the first period. Pageau chipped the puck ahead to Palmieri, who cut from the left point to the right dot and let loose a high shot that beat Jarry. Gaudreau tied it at 11:10 of the first period. The Islanders blocked a shot by Evan Rodrigues, did the same on a shot by Gaudreau, but the latter got the puck back and scored on a high shot far side. On a shot by Brian Dumoulin, Crosby extended his stick with one hand to get the blade on the puck and direct it down and past Sorokin to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 3:47 of the second. That gave Crosby 190 career playoff points, tying him with Brett Hull for seventh all-time. Pageau tied it at 3:33 of the third period when he moved from the left point to the top of the near circle and beat Jarry over his glove. Nelson gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead with 4:10 left in regulation after his shot from the top of the slot went between defenseman Kris Letang’s skates and under Jarry’s glove. Pittsburgh tied it 31 seconds later as Kapanen took a drop pass from Jeff Carter and, from the right circle, beat Sorokin far side.Results Lightning    5-4    Panthers Islanders    4-3    Penguins Wild    1-0    Golden Knights Flames    6-5    Canucks