NHL Game Summary - Tampa Bay at Florida
Sunrise, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jaromir Jagr posted a goal and an assist to lead the Florida Panthers in a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists, while Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov and Brad Boyes all scored for the Panthers, who have won their past two after losing four straight. Al Montoya stopped 20 shots in the win.
Anton Stralman had a goal and an assist while Tyler Johnson and Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who had won three of four coming in. Ben Bishop turned aside 22 shots in the loss.
The Lightning were trailing by three goals in the third, but Stamkos made it two at 8:31 as he snapped home a rebound from the right side for his 35th goal of the season.
Tampa made it a one-goal game with 2:44 to play as Nikita Kucherov's shot from the left boards was stopped, but the rebound came out to the right side where Johnson buried it.
The Lightning pulled Bishop with over a minute to play, but were unable to net the equalizer.
"There's no easy team in this league and this is a team that's fighting for it's playoff lives," said Stamkos. "We can't be surprised that we're down 4-1 when we came out with an effort like that. You can't play a game for 10 minutes and expect to win."
Acquired earlier in the week from New Jersey, Jagr scored his first goal with Florida at 10:24 of the first as Huberdeau's pass from the left wing was knocked away, but it went to the slot and Jagr wristed it home.
"I came here to help this team get into the playoffs," said Jagr. "It's like a playoff for us already. We've got 19 games to go, and it's going to be exciting."
Tampa tied the game less than two minutes later on Stralman's quick shot from the top of the left circle.
The Panthers made it a 2-1 game shortly after Montoya stopped a Johnson penalty shot as Barkov was able to knock in a rebound from in the crease at 5:31 of the second.
Florida took a 3-1 lead with three minutes to play on Boyes sent it out front from behind the right side of the net and it found its way in.
Ekblad scored on the power play at 4:18 of the third when his one-timer from the left circle hit off a Tampa player and went in.