Florida Panthers Knock Out Tampa Bay Lightning in Five Games
The Florida Panthers are the second team to advance to the second round this post-season.
Last year's Stanley Cup runners-up are moving on to the second round.
The Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 on Monday to win their first-round series 4-1. It's Florida's fifth series win in the past three seasons and its franchise-high third straight year of making it past the opening round of the playoffs.
As for the Lightning, after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 and making the Cup final in 2022, they've now suffered two straight eliminations in the first round.
Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe scored 45 seconds into the game, and captain Aleksander Barkov made it a two-goal lead.
While Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman cut the deficit to one, drama followed in the second period when Tampa Bay thought it tied the game at 2-2. Mikhail Sergachev took a snap shot from near the blueline that beat traffic, but the referees called off the goal. It appeared Anthony Cirelli made incidental contact with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky before the puck flew by. The Lightning initiated a coach's challenge, but the call on the ice stood.
Barkov and Evan Rodrigues increased Florida's lead to 4-1 in the third period. Verhaeghe scored his fifth goal of the series on an empty-netter, and defenseman Niko Mikkola added another.
Bobrovsky, one of this year's Vezina Trophy finalists, stopped 31 of 32 shots for the Panthers. He bounced back from conceding six goals on Saturday when Tampa Bay prevented the sweep in a 6-3 Bolts win. Andrei Vasilevskiy, meanwhile, stopped 33 of 37 shots in Monday's loss.
Lightning fans had bragging rights in 2022 after a second-round sweep over the Panthers. But this time around, Panthers fans chanted "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye," during the final moments of the game.
Florida received significant contributions from Verhaeghe in the series, with nine points in five games, including an overtime-winning goal in Game 1. Matthew Tkachuk also played a starring role, recording three goals and six assists for nine points while only taking one penalty against the intra-state rivals.
With that series win, the Panthers now await the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round. They eliminated both teams last season en route to the Cup final.
And with that series loss, the Tampa Bay Lightning now face a crossroads with captain Steven Stamkos, who becomes a UFA this off-season. The 2008 first overall pick has played 16 seasons and 1,082 regular-season games for the Bolts, but the team has a projected $11.69 million in cap space and only 17 of 23 roster spots filled, per PuckPedia. Stamkos may need to take a discount to stay in Tampa Bay or go elsewhere for the first time in his career.
For more series reaction, visit The Hockey News' Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning sites.
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