The Florida Panthers eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night, and they made it look easy. The defending Stanley Cup champions seemed fully ready to defend their title. They outplayed the Lightning in nearly every aspect on the ice.
Tampa’s star players were held in check
The Lightning’s top four goal scorers, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and Brandon Hagel, combined for just five goals in the series. Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had more goals (6) between them.
The Lightning's power play was equally disappointing. The team was just 2 for 17 for 11.7%. That is shockingly bad for a team that was in the top-five in PP% during the regular season at 25.86%.
Not the goalie battle most anticipated
Going into the series it was easy to point out the two goaltenders and expect a low-scoring affair. Both Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky are among the NHL’s elite netminders. Both have won Vezina Trophies and Stanley Cups in their decorated careers.
Vaileveskiy outperformed Bob during the regular season. For his efforts, he was named one of the NHL’s three finalists for this year’s Vezina (along with Connor Hellebuyck and Darcy Kuemper). However, his .921 save percentage and 2.18 goals against average did not carry over into the postseason. Florida was able to net 16 goals against him in the five games, bringing his postseason save percentage to .872 with a 3.2 GAA.
Road warriors
The most surprising statistic of the series is that four of the five games were won by the road team. More notably, the Lightning were 0-3 at Amalie Arena. Tampa has one of the loudest crowds in the NHL, especially during the playoffs. However, the Panthers were able to shut out the noise and send the Lightning fans home disappointed in all three opportunities.
The Battle of Florida has grown in recent years to one of the best and most passionate rivalries in hockey. A good deal of that can be attributed to the success of both teams. In a rivalry that the Lightning once dominated year in and year out, the Panthers have now become the alpha squad.
Tampa eliminated Florida in 2021 and swept them in 2022. The Cats have flipped the script over the last two seasons. They have now eliminated Tampa from the postseason in back-to-back years in convincing fashion.
I am not ready to write off the Lightning as a potential contender next season. I fully expect that the Eastern Conference will still run through the Sunshine State one way or another. As a Panthers fan, I hope that road leads to Sunrise and not Tampa.