TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Killorn scored a pair of second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from their first postseason loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Central Division playoff matchup on Saturday.

The reigning Stanley Cup champions pushed their intrastate rivals to the brink of elimination by scoring three first-period goals, then building their advantage to 5-1 when Killorn beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky twice in a span of 94 seconds to break the game open.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists, while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 39 shots for the Lightning, who can wrap up the best-of-seven series by winning Game 5 in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday night.

Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Ondrej Palat scored in the opening period for Tampa Bay, setting the tone for a rough afternoon for Bobrovsky, who earned his second start of the series by coming off the bench to win Game 4 in relief.

The Lightning scored on three of seven shots in the first period. The Panthers replaced Bobrovsky with Chris Driedger after Killorn scored on the power play and added another goal off a pass from Steven Stamkos to increase the lead to 5-1.

ISLANDERS 4, PENGUINS 1: Ilya Sorokin stopped 29 shots, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock each had a goal and an assist and New York won at home to even the first-round series.

Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Islanders. Sorokin, who had 39 saves in the Islanders’ 4-3 win in Game 1, was back in goal after Semyon Varlamov started Games 2 and 3 – both losses.

MAPLE LEAFS 5, CANADIENS 1: Auston Matthews broke a tie early in the second period and Toronto won at home to even the first-round playoff series.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, WILD 0: Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves for his 16th career postseason shutout, Nicolas Roy scored twice and Vegas took a 3-1 series lead with a win in St. Paul, Minnesota.

NOTES

MAPLE LEAFS: Toronto captain John Tavares will probably miss the rest of the first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens after sustaining a concussion and a knee injury during Game 1.

The center’s availability for the rest of the postseason is uncertain if the Maple Leafs advance.

General Manager Kyle Dubas said there is no structural damage to the head, neck and spine after Tavares took an accidental knee to the face from Canadiens forward Corey Perry.

HURRICANES: Carolina forward Jordan Staal was fined $5,000 for what the NHL called a dangerous trip on Nashville’s Luke Kunin.

The fine is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. It was announced hours after Nashville beat Carolina 5-4 in double overtime Friday night to pull within 2-1 of the Hurricanes in their first-round series.

 

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