The Tampa Bay Lightning returned from the holiday break in winning fashion on Saturday, beating the Florida Panthers 4-2 in a physical game at Amerant Bank Arena.
Tampa Bay is now 21-13-3 this season.
Florida was the first team on the board, but the Lightning scored three straight goals and then held on against the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.
Jake Guentzel, Pontus Holmberg and Nikita Kucherov (two) scored goals for the Lightning, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for the win.
Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 21 saves for the home team.
The Lightning have a quick turnaround and will host the Montreal Canadiens at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Scoring summary
First period
FLA 1, TBL 0
5:37 Eetu Luostarinen (4) – Mackie Samoskevich, Evan Rodrigues
The Panthers took the early lead when a Lightning clearing attempt went off the stick of Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen and found the back of the visitors’ net.
FLA 1, TBL 1
13:05 Jake Guentzel (18) – Anthony Cirelli
Jake Guentzel tied the game when he roofed his shot into the top right corner on a shorthanded breakaway. Anthony Cirelli chipped the puck out from the defensive zone to set up the chance.
TBL 2, FLA 1
19:52 Pontus Holmberg (5) – Yanni Gourde, Declan Carlile
Tampa Bay won a neutral zone battle and got the puck to Pontus Holmberg in the right faceoff circle, where the forward’s shot beat Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky over the right leg pad.
Shots on goal: TBL 12, FLA 5
Second period
TBL 3, FLA 1
2:29 Nikita Kucherov (14) – Brayden Point, Gage Goncalves
Nikita Kucherov finished a 3-on-1 rush through the five-hole of Bobrovsky to extend Tampa Bay’s lead.
TBL 3, FLA 2
7:06 Brad Marchand (21) – Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart – PP
A Panthers power play led to a Brad Marchand goal at the right post and reduced the Lightning lead back to one goal.
Shots on goal: TBL 8, FLA 8
Third period
TBL 4, FLA 2
19:04 Kucherov (15) – Unassisted – EN
Kucherov’s second goal of the night was an insurance goal into the empty Florida net.
Total shots: FLA 26, TBL 25