Panthers halt rival Lightning’s 8-game win streak

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Aleksander Barkov scored two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves as the Florida Panthers snapped the Tampa Bay Lightning’s eight-game winning streak with a 2-1 decision on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.

Tampa Bay had held the NHL’s longest active win streak, but it ended in large part due to Barkov’s first multi-goal game of the season.

Florida’s penalty-killing unit also delivered, going 7-for-7 as the Panthers won their fourth straight game.

The Panthers played their fifth straight game without star forward Matthew Tkachuk, who was placed on the long-term injury list on Sunday. The team confirmed he will miss the rest of the regular season with a groin injury.

For Tampa Bay, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots in his 11th straight start. He is 9-1-1 in that span.

Brayden Point scored the Lightning’s goal, his team-leading 32nd of the season.

Five-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones made his Panthers debut, providing three shots, two blocks and one hit in 22:56.

Jones was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The Panthers dealt a 2026 first-round draft pick and backup goalie Spencer Knight to Chicago, then called up Chris Driedger to serve as Bobrovsky’s backup.

After a scoreless first period, the Panthers made it 1-0 on Barkov’s initial goal 10:58 left in the second.

Tampa Bay’s J.J. Moser turned it over in his own end. Barkov got the puck, spun away from Point, used Victor Hedman as a screen and beat Vasilevskiy — who never saw the shot — from just beyond the left circle.

Six minutes later, Barkov scored a power-play goal. The sequence started when Moser made another mistake, tripping A.J. Greer.

Six seconds later, it was 2-0 as Barkov beat Luke Glendening on a faceoff before drifting to the slot, taking a pass from Mackie Samoskevich and then turning and firing a shot past Vasilevskiy’s glove.

With 3:56 left in the second, Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen was hit with a double-minor penalty after his high stick drew blood to the face of Jake Guentzel.

However, Tampa Bay was not able to convert on its four-minute power play.

Tampa Bay finally got on the board with 17:53 left in the third. Point scooped up his own rebound and backhanded a shot under Bobrovsky’s right armpit.

A few minutes later, Tampa Bay nearly tied the score. Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov hit the crossbar on successive shots before Florida swept the puck out of danger.

Then with 2:54 left, Bobrovsky stopped Ryan McDonagh on a short-handed breakaway.

With nine seconds left, Florida was hit with a tripping penalty, but Hedman’s subsequent shot to tie the score went off the right post.

–Field Level Media