The Panthers will face the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round. The Bruins lead the Maple Leafs 3-1 in their first round series with Game 5 on Tuesday.
Niko Mikkola had a goal and an assist, and Evan Rodrigues scored for the Panthers, who scored four goals in the third period and are the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division. Matthew Tkachuk had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.
Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, who were the first wild card from the East. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves.
Tampa Bay has been knocked out of the First Round in each of the past two postseasons after making three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final from 2020-22.
The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.
Verhaeghe gave Florida a 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the second period. He took a shot from the slot that Vasilevskiy blocked, chased down the puck and scored on the rebound.
Barkov made it 2-0 at 12:38, scoring a short-handed goal by following up a rebound off a point shot from Aaron Ekblad.
Tampa Bay cut it to 2-1 at 13:37 on a one-timer from the slot.
Barkov made it 3-1 at 11:06 of the third, tipping in a loose puck which had been blocked in front off a shot from Tkachuk.
Rodrigues extended it to 4-1 at 14:16 of the when he one-timed a pass from Kevin Stenlund from the left circle.
Verhaeghe scored into an empty net at 16:03 to make it 5-1 before and Mikkola also scored an empty-net goal at 18:50 for the 6-1 final.
The Lightning had two goals disallowed following video review.
Tampa Bay appeared to take a 1-0 lead at 13:00 of the first period on Anthony Cirelli’s shot from the slot, but Florida successfully challenged for goalie interference.
In the second, Mikhail Sergachev’s one-timer from the slot at 17:48 was immediately waved off for goalie interference on Cirelli. Tampa Bay challenged and was unsuccessful.
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