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.

Nate Schmidt scored his third goal in two games, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Nate Schmidt scored an early goal — his third in two games — which was enough for the Panthers to pull off a 1-0 win over the Lightning and head back to Sunrise with a 2-0 series lead.