Panthers aim to take 2-0 lead as physical series with Tampa Bay expected to continue

Expect the big hockey barn in Sunrise to be rocking once again.

Following a thrilling 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon, the Florida Panthers will look to maintain their home ice advantage when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup Quarterfinal series.

The series opener between the Cats and Bolts didn’t come with a ton of offensive firepower, with the two teams putting up a total of just 47 shots on goal (28 for Florida and 19 for the Lightning).

They did, however, combine for quite a few hits. A total of 116, to be exact.

Sixty by Tampa Bay and 56 by Florida.

That’s…a lot.

After the game, Matthew Tkachuk joked that he’d never seen a stat sheet where every single player registered at least one hit.

We’ll see how that translates to Game 2.

Another thing to keep an eye on will be if Florida can continue to limit the opportunities for Tampa’s biggest threats.

Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s regular season leading scorer, was held without a point for the first 59:50 of Game 1.

He picked up an assist on Steven Stamkos’ power play goal in the game’s waning moments.

While the man advantage represents the area of Tampa’s game that Florida most wants to limit in terms of opportunities, allowing a power play goal with ten seconds to go in a game that was no longer in doubt seems like a decent trade.

Still, though the Panthers may have done well to limit Tampa Bay to only 19 shots on goal and limited opportunities during the game, the Lightning’s stars found a way to shine.

Stamkos, Kucherov and Brayden Point combined for a goal and three assists on eight shots on goal.

For a look back at Sunday’s series opener, check out The Hockey Show’s Game 1 recap below:

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 1 against Tampa:

Vladimir Tarasenko – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anthon Lundell – Evan Rodrigues

Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Nick Cousins

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov

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