So securing home ice in their first round against the cross-state rival Panthers seemed fortuitous. But after dropping the first two games of the playoffs at Amalie Arena — including Thursday’s 1-0 loss — the Lightning will have to become road warriors to climb out of a two-games-to-none series hole.

With the Lightning trailing 1-0 late in the second period, Nikita Kucherov found a waiting Jake Guentzel at the far left side of the offensive blueline. Guentzel dished to Point for a short spree alone on Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, but the goalie was there for the save with two minutes left in the middle frame.

Meanwhile, Schmidt is just the second defenseman in franchise history to have a multigoal game in the playoffs. The other is Brandon Montour, who had a pair of two-goal games in Round 1 against the Boston Bruins in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.