SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers were without center Sam Bennett for a good part of Tuesday’s playoff game against the Lightning.
Bennett, who scored Florida’s first goal and assisted on the second, caught a shot from teammate Brandon Montour early in the second period and left the game.
Bennett dropped his stick after taking the puck off his hand/wrist and skated right off the ice.
He was not on the bench to start the third period.
Bennett scored Florida’s opening goal by backhanding a soft rebound off a shot from Matthew Tkachuk — that Bennett himself set up.
Later in the first period, Bennett was camped out in front of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, got a loose puck in the slot and fed Vladimir Tarasenko for the power play goal.
Tampa Bay scored early in the second and then got a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos to tie it at 2.
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