Panthers score twice in 11 seconds to beat Lightning, take 3-1 series lead

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Apr 28, 2025

Published in Hockey

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SUNRISE, Fla. — It took 11 seconds midway through the second period for the Florida Panthers to lose their early lead in Game 4 of their Stanley Cup playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

It took 11 seconds late in the third period for them to get it back — and keep it.

Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored the game-tying and go-ahead goals with 3:47 and 3:36 left to play, respectively, to lead the Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Before that, Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak scored twice midway through the second period to turn a 1-0 Florida lead into a 2-1 Panthers deficit. The goals came about a minute after an Aaron Ekblad high hit on the boards to Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who did not return to the game.

The Panthers played from behind for the majority of the game after that and played down one defenseman after Niko Mikkola was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct 19 seconds into the third period for boarding Tampa Bay forward Zemgus Girgensons.

Ekblad appeared to have tied the game on a power-play goal with 12:58 left to play, but the goal was overturned after Lightning coach Jon Cooper successfully challenged that the play was offside. About nine minutes later, he started the scoring flurry to seal the win.

Anton Lundell opened scoring for Florida. Carter Verhaeghe capped scoring with an empty-netter with 1:40 left to play.