It’s early, but the Florida Panthers on Sunday offered up a contender for the best goal of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In a 3-3 tie against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening game of the teams’ first-round series, Owen Tippett delivered a go-ahead goal just minutes into a dominant start to the third period.
Jonathan Huberdeau had scored just over a minute prior to even the score off an assist by Tippett and wanted to return the favor. Tippett had a shot batted away by Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevski, but after a takeaway from Sam Bennett in the neutral zone he got the puck to Huberdeau, who pulled off a filthy pass to Tippett.
The Florida right wing buried the beautiful set-up for quite the memorable goal. Check it out.
The Lightning would score on a power play with 7 minutes to play thanks to Brayden Point. Point lit the lamp again with less than two minutes in the final frame, giving the Bolts a 5-4 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
There’s nothing like playoff hockey.
