Panthers Reclaim Sole Possession of First in Atlantic

The Florida Panthers are back alone at the top of the Atlantic Division following their 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

The win came on Tampa's Bay home ice after the two teams entered in a tie. Florida now has 93 points on the season and a comfortable five-point lead on third place Boston. With only seven games left, the Panthers have not clinched a postseason spot as of yet. This victory puts the team one step closer to that goal however.

As has been the case often as of late, Vincent Trocheck made his presence known in a hurry. Trocheck put home his 25th goal of the year in the first period to tie up the game following an earlier goal by Tampa Bay. Jussi Jokinen assisted on the game-tying score at the 13:36 mark.

Not even five minutes went by before Florida found itself on a power play. The Panthers would take advantage of that situation when Jaromir Jagr scored for the 25th time this season. Jagr's goal came with assists from Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Late into the second period, Florida would take a 3-1 lead when Jiri Hudler scored for the 15th time this year. Hudler's goal which was at the 15:53 mark had assists on it from Alex Petrovic and Nick Bjugstad.

Looking to give his team extra breathing room, Huberdeau scored a goal of his own during the third period. Huberdeau's 15th of the year came with a helping-hand from Barkov and Jagr.

With 25 seconds left on the clock and playing shorthanded, Jokinen's 17th goal of the year made it a 5-2 game. The final score of the contest was unassisted and it was of the empty net variety.