Tampa, Florida - The Tampa Bay Lightning are moving on to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after shutting out the Florida Panthers.

The defending Stanley Cup champions continue their quest for a second-straight cup, winning game six 4-0 over the Panthers and clinching the series in the process, 4-2.

The Lighting proved to be the better Florida team in this series, despite finishing under the Panthers in the regular-season Central Division standings. The Panthers even had the head-to-head advantage over Tampa, winning five out of the eight games they played against each other.

Tampa's netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy (26) was in the zone, stopping 29 shots on his way to his second career playoff shutout.

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Meanwhile, winger Pat Maroon got the offense started for Tampa with a goal in the first period, assisted by Tyler Johnson and Mikhail Sergachev. The one-goal lead held into the second period when captain Steven Stamkos scored a power-play goal to put the Lightning up by two in the thirteenth minute.

The Panthers were still held at bay through much of the third until goal number three was scored by Brayden Point, followed by the fourth and final one to put things way out of reach by Alex Killorn. Nikita Kucherov and Erik Cernak each pitched in with two assists for the Lightning.

Tampa now awaits the winner of the first-round series between the Hurricanes and Predators.