The Florida Panthers are on the verge of advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.

Florida got off to a strong start with Matthew Tkachuk opening the scoring midway through the first period, but Tampa Bay responded with two quick tallies to start the middle frame and grab a short-lived 2-1 lead.

Sam Reinhart, Brandon Montour, and Steven Lorentz scored in succession for the Panthers to put the game out of reach. Tkachuk then added an empty-netter after Nick Paul made it a one-goal game with just over five minutes to play.

The Lightning will look to extend their season with a win in Game 4 on Saturday night, while the Panthers hope to exact revenge on their in-state rivals for a 2022 sweep when the clubs last met in the playoffs.

Although the Panthers are in full control, it's been a tight series. Florida won Games 1 and 2 by a single tally and holds a narrow 7-5 goal advantage at five-on-five through three contests. However, the Panthers have been the stronger team by many metrics, holding edges in shot attempts (53.42%), scoring chances (60.61%), and expected goals (57.79%), according to Natural Stat Trick.

The Panthers' last sweep came in last year's Eastern Conference Final when they ousted the Carolina Hurricanes. The Lightning haven't been swept since falling to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.

Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.