SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers have finally shed themselves of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
And they did it in style on Monday night.
Florida scored four times in the third period and steamrolled the Lightning 6-1 to close out the first-round series in Game 5.
Sasha Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each scored twice for the Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves in the win.
Florida now waits on the winner of the Boston/Toronto series.
The Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the second off goals from Verhaeghe and Barkov.
Up 2-1 in the third, Barkov got his second of the night at 11:06 and the celebration was starting to warm.
By the time Evan Rodrigues made it 4-1, at 14:16, it was a full-on party.
The Lightning actually put three pucks past Bobrovsky — but only one counted.
Tampa Bay had its initial goal taken off the board when Paul Maurice challenged goalie interference on a goal from Anthony Cirelli at 13:00 of the first.
Anthony Duclair interfered with Bobrovsky in the crease and the goal was taken off.
The Lightning appeared to tie the score at 2 with 2:12 left in the second, only Mikhail Sergachev’s goal was immediately waved off.
Jon Cooper challenged and lost; Cirelli was in the crease, jostling with Niko Mikkola.
Florida took a 2-1 lead into the third period.
1. Sasha Barkov, Florida
2. Carter Verhaeghe, Florida
3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida
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