NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers

· National Hockey League
Final
3 - 1

Jack Finley scores 1st NHL goal to help the Lightning beat the Panthers 3-1

Zemgus Girgensons scores goal for Lightning

Emil Lilleberg and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for the Lightning. They improved to 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and 5-2-2 on the road.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 shots for Tampa Bay.

Brad Marchand scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season for Florida, a power-play tally midway through the second period that tied it at 1.

But Finley picked up a loose puck near the blue line and skated in alone on goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for what became the go-ahead goal 4:09 into the third. Girgensons sealed it with an empty-netter with 50.3 seconds remaining.

Bobrovsky made 17 saves for Florida, which saw its two-game winning streak snapped.

It was the first game between the teams since Oct. 4, a preseason contest that saw more than 300 penalty minutes and both rosters getting depleted because so many players were sent to the locker room early because of those infractions.

And this game was chippy at times — as Lightning-Panthers games tend to be — but it was nothing like the penalty-fest from the preseason. There were only 14 penalties, 13 of them 2-minute minors and the other a 4-minute double minor against the Lightning in the third. There were some scuffles, but nothing that rose to the level of a fighting penalty or a major.

Up next Lightning: Host Vancouver on Sunday night.

Panthers: Host Vancouver on Monday night.

Regular Season Series

TB leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 12:19 Emil Lilleberg Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Nikita Kucherov (8)
Goal 2nd Period 11:31 Brad Marchand Goal (12) Backhand, assists: Sam Reinhart (3), Anton Lundell (11)
Goal 3rd Period 4:09 Jack Finley Goal (1) Backhand, assists: Curtis Douglas (2), Scott Sabourin (1)
Goal 3rd Period 19:09 Zemgus Girgensons Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: Yanni Gourde (3)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/fla.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originFLA
14 Blocked Shots 7
27 Hits 25
2 Takeaways 4
20 Shots 23
0 Power Play Goals 1
4 Power Play Opportunities 5
0.0 Power Play Percentage 20.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
25 Faceoffs Won 32
43.9 Faceoff Win Percent 56.1
18 Giveaways 15
7 Total Penalties 7
16 Penalty Minutes 14
Florida Panthers Florida Panthers Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Matthew Tkachuk, LW Injured Reserve Nov 26
Eetu Luostarinen, C Out Nov 19
Cole Schwindt, C Out Nov 19
Jonah Gadjovich, LW Injured Reserve Nov 18
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Brayden Point, C Out Nov 28
Erik Cernak, D Injured Reserve Nov 24
Victor Hedman, D Injured Reserve Nov 22
Ryan McDonagh, D Injured Reserve Nov 11

Game Information

Amerant Bank Arena

Location: Sunrise, FL
Attendance: 19,894 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 15 7 32 2
Montreal 13 7 29 3
Ottawa 12 8 28 4
Boston 14 12 28 0
Detroit 13 11 27 1
Florida 12 11 25 1
Toronto 10 11 23 3
Buffalo 9 11 22 4
Full Standings