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State of Barkov: Florida Captain Leads Panthers over Lightning

Originally posted on Florida Hockey Now | Last updated Mar 3, 2025 11:34 PM ET

SUNRISE — Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov scored a pair of goals and Seth Jones made an immediate impact in his debut in a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

Florida snapped Tampa Bay’s eight-game winning streak — while winning its fourth straight.

Jones, playing in his first game since Saturday’s big trade with the Blackhawks, fit right in as Florida’s defense played a fantastic game in front of Sergei Bobrovsky.

Aaron Ekblad and Gus Forsling, Florida’s top pairing, were all over the Lightning on Monday.

Yet it was Barkov who did the heavy lifting offensively, scoring twice in the second period to give Florida a lead that Bobrovsky held on to.

Brayden Point scored early in the third, but 2-1 was as close as the Lightning would get.

Florida went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in its second win in three meetings with the Lightning.

The two teams very well could meet in the first-round of the playoffs for a second straight season.

NOTES: LIGHTNING @ PANTHERS

The Lightning, which started a year before the Panthers in 1992, played its 2500th game on Monday. The 1,162 wins are fourth-most in NHL history in the first 2,500 — Philadelphia had 1,246.
Florida is 27-6-0 this season when scoring first, which is the most wins among all teams.
Barkov had his first two-goal game since Game 3 against the Bruins in the second round last year. His previous two-goal game in the regular season came against Detroit on March 30.

HOW THEY SCORED

Panthers 1, Lightning 0 (9:02 2nd): Brayden Point tries to get Sasha Barkov off the puck in the top of the zone. The Florida captain spins out of trouble the charges up, whipping a wrist shot from the top of the left circle and beats Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Panthers 2, Lightning 0 (15:16 2nd PP): Barkov does it again, this time spinning in place and rifling a shot over Vasi’s outstretched glove.
Panthers 2, Lightning 1 (2:07 3rd): Point gets his own rebound in the slot and sneaks a backhanded shot underneath the blocker of Sergei Bobrovsky.