Panthers Shock Tampa In Five Games, Advance To Second Round

Out of 18 “experts” from Sportsnet that predicted who would advance, 16 picked the Tampa Bay Lightning in six or seven games. Once even had them in five. What they must have forgotten is that the Florida Panthers in the playoffs are built different, as they delivered a gentleman’s sweep in five games and are advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tampa Bay had one of the best offenses in the regular season. To that end, they had one of the deadliest power-play units in the NHL. They made massive splashes in the offseason to make them a machine in the postseason. What happened?

Florida’s masterclass performance on defense, especially their penalty kill. Tampa was on the power play 16 times this series and only scored TWICE. The Panthers were not afraid of starting this series on the road – they won EVERY game at the Amalie Arena.

Don't tell the experts who sided with Tampa, but the Florida Panthers are a different team in the postseason. 🐈

For the second-straight year, the Cats down the Bolts in the first round! 🏒

They'll take on the winner of the Toronto v. Ottawa series.#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/eEKJ5NsJhe
— Jake Gibson (@JakeTheEmcee) May 1, 2025

It Was Always Cats In Five

This was a back-and-forth contest, especially in the first period. Tampa Bay came in knowing that if they didn’t give it their all, their flights to Cancun would be booked early. To their credit, Florida matched their aggressiveness. The Panthers have done that in all five games.

When the Lightning scored the first goal of the game – the first time this series that’s happened – the Panthers didn’t let up. They got their chance on a Tampa slashing penalty, and Carter Verhaeghe does what he does best – score in elimination games.

Don’t look now, but the heroes the Panthers needed today were Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand. They were the kings of the setup for Florida’s goals, including their second. After a Tampa turnover, Marchand set up Aton Lundell with a beautiful deflection in front of the net for the lead.

Lundell's goal that gave Florida their initial lead was a textbook deflection, but Brad Marchand made that whole offensive rush happen off a turnover. 🙀

This may have been one of Marchand's best games as a Panther. You'll see why in a sec. 🏒pic.twitter.com/Be7seYhCxH
— Jake Gibson (@JakeTheEmcee) May 1, 2025

The Bolts answered back to tie the game at 2-2 at the first intermission. But with 16 shots and 17 hits, the more aggressive team early in this game was rocking white sweaters.

Florida and Tampa traded blows in the second, but it was the Cats that came out on top. Aleksander Barkov tipped in a goal less than a minute in, which was exemplary, but that wasn’t the story of the goal. Vasilevskiy is an amazing goalie, but if you block his vision of the puck, you can get by him. So with five players around the net, there was nothing he could have done.

Always A Good Time At Amalie

Sam Bennett committed a slashing penalty on Victor Hedman, and Jake Guentzel made them pay with a power-play goal – their first PPG since Game One. To spoil things, however, this was the last goal the Lightning scored, at home in an elimination game, nonetheless.

Sam Bennett committed a slashing penalty on Victor Hedman…again. But this time, Benny redeemed himself with a rush to the net as soon as he got out of the box. He was gifted a one-on-one against Vasilevskiy, which he took full advantage of.

This was a fun goal. 😺

After Sam Bennett was caught slashing Victor Hedman (For the second time in five minutes), he made up for it IMMEDIATELY after getting out of the sin bin with a rare one-on-one against Vasilevskiy. 🏒pic.twitter.com/dzqA18RFpz
— Jake Gibson (@JakeTheEmcee) May 1, 2025

The third period was the premier Panthers defense, plain and simple. Tampa was shut out for 20 minutes while the Cats scored two more goals for the fun of it. The first was off another incredible pass by Marshand, this time to Luostarinen. The second was an empty-netter from Sam Reinhart.

Another great game by Sergei Bobrovsky was a big piece to this win. With 26 saves on 29 shots faced, he continues to provide highlight-reel moments against Tampa.

By the way, Florida delivered 217 hits on Tampa, the most of any playoff team so far. In comparison, the Bolts delivered 154, the fewest in the playoffs.

The Sunshine State is red for the second-straight year. It was always the Panthers in five games. Florida will take on the winner of the Toronto vs. Ottawa series, which is still going on. Toronto leads the series with a 3-2 lead, but you never know with the Maple Leafs. Game six is tomorrow at 7 pm.