Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes take commanding 3-0 leads in NHL playoffs

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice as the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 Thursday to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.

After Nick Paul cut the Lightning's deficit to 4-3 with 5:10 remaining, they pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with 1:45 left for the extra skater.

Tkachuk put the game away with an empty-netter with 32 seconds remaining for his third playoff goal as the Atlantic Division champions beat the Lightning for the fourth consecutive time in Tampa.

Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist, and Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz tallied. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers, who are 5-1-0 against Tampa Bay this season.

Steven Stamkos, Tyler Motte and Nick Paul scored for the Lightning, while Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots. An Anthony Cirelli goal was overturned on review because Brandon Hagel was offside.

Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes also took a 3-0 lead in their series with a 3-2 victory against the New York Islanders.

Sebastian Aho scored the game-winning goal in the second period.

Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov scored in the first for the Hurricanes, who are attempting to reach the second round for the fourth consecutive season. Goalie Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.

Pierre Engvall and Brock Nelson scored in the second for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin, who started for the first time this series, was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots. Semyon Varlamov recorded eight saves inrelief.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Panthers, Hurricanes take commanding 3-0 NHL playoff series leads