With the Lightning trailing 1-0 late in the second period, Nikita Kucherov found a waiting Jake Guentzel at the far left side of the offensive blueline. Guentzel dished to Point for a short spree alone on Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, but the goalie was there for the save with two minutes left in the middle frame.

Nate Schmidt scored an early goal — his third in two games — which was enough for the Panthers to pull off a 2-0 win over the Lightning and head back to Sunrise with a 2-0 series lead.

Pregame analysis and predictions of the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers NHL game to be played on April 26, 2025 on ESPN.