D-MEN LEAD THE COMEBACK

The Tampa Bay Lightning controlled most of Game 4 of the 2025 Eastern Conference First Round series, threatening to even the series with the Panthers. Instead of the top goal scorers, it was the Cats blueliners who came up big. Aaron Ekblad scored the equalizer at 16:13 of the third period, then Seth Jones put Florida ahead just 11 seconds later — the fastest pair of goals by defensemen in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The Panthers won the game 4-2 and took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. “I just had to put it to the net,” Jones said. “[Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy] played well, so anything we can put to the net, we talked about pregame, we’re going to do that with bodies and traffic.”