Sam Bennett had a goal and an assist, Verhaeghe also had an assist, and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for Florida, the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves, including a spectacular second-period stop on Matt Dumba that kept the game tied.
“If you understand what your game is supposed to look like, you have something to hold on to,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, whose team has won 11 consecutive overtime playoff games dating to 2021.
“This is the style that we’re supposed to play. We have a lot of guys who have scored overtime goals. Carter Verhaeghe should think he can score an overtime goal because it has happened before. Matthew [Tkachuk] as well. We have guys who have recent positive experiences, so they’re excited about overtime.”
Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored, and Victor Hedman had two assists for Tampa Bay, the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves.
The Lightning have lost 11 of their past 12 playoff overtime games dating to 2021.
“Unfortunately for us, we’re finding ourselves behind,” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, whose team has not led in the series. “It is a tough league to come back in, especially in the playoffs.”
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