RECAP: Florida Panthers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1

The Florida Panthers snapped rival Tampa Bay’s eight-game winning streak in new defenseman Seth Jones’ team debut.

SUNRISE, Fla — Captain Aleksander Barkov led the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning with a two-goal outing on Monday night. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 of 28 shots for the win.

New defenseman Seth Jones logged 22:56 with three shots on goal and two blocked shots in his Panthers debut after being acquired by the team on Saturday night in exchange for Spencer Knight and a first-round draft pick.

The Panthers won their ninth game in their past 11 — and their fourth in five without star forward Matthew Tkachuk — while snapping rival Tampa Bay’s eight-game winning streak in the process.

After a quiet first period, Barkov put Florida ahead with a quick shot from the top of the face-off circle 9:02 into the second period.

The Panthers captain notched his second goal of the night with 4:44 to go in the second. Mackie Samoskevich set Barkov up in the slot right off a face-off and he wired a snap shot home six seconds into the power play opportunity.

Florida found itself on a four-minute penalty kill to close out the second period after Eetu Luostarinen high-sticker Jake Guentzel. They allowed just two shots on goal on that penalty kill — with Gustav Forsling blocking two shots in the final minute — to come out of it unscathed.

Brayden Point ended Bobrovsky’s bid for two consecutive shutouts 2:07 into the second period after he picked up his own rebound and beat him with a backhand shot to make it 2-1.

Tampa Bay came within inches of tying it up with 13:52 to go. Anthony Cirelli hit the bottom of the crossbar seconds after another successful Panthers penalty kill and the puck just trickled out onto the goal line. Luostarinen cleared the puck away from the gaping cage to keep Florida ahead.

The Panthers killed off all seven penalties they took on Monday night. They are now 13-for-14 on the penalty kill since returning from the 4 Nations break on Feb. 22.

Florida now has a five-point lead over Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division, remaining in the hunt with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the division title with 20 games remaining in the regular season.

They will return to the ice at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.