A three-goal first period provided enough of a lead for the Tampa Bay Lightning to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-1 in the team’s final home game of the 2024-25 regular season on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay is now 47-26-8.

Brayden Point scored 1:32 into the game, and the Lightning added late first-period goals from Conor Geekie and Jake Guentzel for a 3-0 cushion.

Nikita Kucherov scored to make it 4-0 before the Panthers got on the board in the second period. The Lightning closed the scoring with a power-play goal in period three.

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves for the win.

Scoring summary

First period TBL 1, FLA 0 1:32 Brayden Point (42) – Yanni Gourde, JJ Moser

Tampa Bay burst for a 1-0 lead, as Brayden Point’s shot from the left faceoff dot hit the right post and beat Florida goalie Vitek Vanecek.

TBL 2, FLA 0 15:25 Conor Geekie (8) – Point, Victor Hedman

Shortly after the Lightning killed a penalty, rookie Conor Geekie scored his second goal in as many games with a wired one-timer from the right faceoff circle.

TBL 3, FLA 0 18:09 Jake Guentzel (41) – Anthony Cirelli – SH

The Lightning added to their lead with Jake Guentzel’s second career shorthanded goal, this one coming near the left goalpost after Anthony Cirelli forced a Florida turnover in the right corner and passed to Guentzel.

Shots on goal: TBL 8, FLA 7

Second period TBL 4, FLA 0 4:42 Kucherov (37) – Gourde, Point

Kucherov buried a wide-open look at the right post after a tic-tac-toe passing play with Yanni Gourde and Point.

TBL 4, FLA 1 5:36 Brad Marchand (23) – Carter Verhaege, Matt Kierstad

Florida got on the scoreboard with Brad Marchand’s nearside shot in the second period.

Shots on goal: TBL 10, FLA 10

Third period TBL 5, FLA 1 11:22 Darren Raddysh (6) – Kucherov, Hedman – PP

Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh scored on his one-timer atop a 5-on-3 power play.

Total shots: TBL 30, FLA 24