Apr 26, 2025; Dawn, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Nick Paul (20) celebrates with middle Jake Guentzel (59) after scoring a objective towards the Florida Panthers within the second interval throughout recreation three of the primary spherical of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Financial institution Area. Necessary Credit score: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Pictures Immediately, the Tampa Bay Lightning are feeling extra alive.
Make no mistake — the Florida Panthers nonetheless lead this Japanese Convention first-round collection 2-1. And the Panthers — the reigning Stanley Cup champions — will probably be at dwelling for Recreation 4 on Monday night time in Dawn, Fla. However no workforce has but to win a house recreation on this best-of-seven collection.
And Tampa Bay’s 5-1 win in Dawn, Fla., on Saturday afternoon has given the Lightning a spark. Previous to Saturday’s win, the Lightning had misplaced seven of their final eight playoff video games.
Swiftly — after that one win — the Lightning have a brand new angle.
“It was an enormous win for our workforce,” Lightning ahead Jake Guentzel stated. “It offers us some confidence and a few life on this collection.
“Nevertheless it’s just one recreation. Now we have to be prepared for the following one.”
The Lightning by no means led within the first two video games of this collection. They fell behind once more on Saturday and did not take their first lead till Nick Paul scored at 13:17 of the second interval.
“Getting the lead is big,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper stated. “We have been down 1-0 (on Saturday), and (Florida’s) constructing was buzzing.
“I believe the psychological energy of our workforce. … We ultimately tied it, after which we pierced that bubble, lastly had the lead.”
Certainly, after scoring a complete of two targets within the first two video games, the Lightning out of the blue have some scorching gamers. Nikita Kucherov, for instance, had three assists on Saturday and Guentzel had one objective and two assists.
Kucherov has registered at the very least three assists in 11 profession playoff video games. Solely Wayne Gretzky (28 instances) and Mark Messier (12) have had extra. Paul Coffey and Doug Gilmour match Kucherov’s 11 video games.
In the meantime, the Panthers will not panic after only one loss. That is the principle message from captain Aleksander Barkov.
“We’ll study so much from (Saturday’s) recreation,” Barkov stated. “We had an incredible begin (on Saturday) and did the correct issues.
“However (the Lightning) are an incredible workforce. They performed rather well. … All we will take from that is to study.”
The Panthers managed solely Matthew Tkachuk’s objective in Saturday’s first interval. However it is a harmful workforce able to way more.
Through the common season, Sam Reinhart led Florida in targets (39) and factors (81). He additionally led the workforce in power-play targets (13) and short-handed scores (5). Barkov led the workforce in assists (51) and power-play assists (19). Tkachuk missed 30 video games attributable to accidents, however nonetheless completed with 22 targets and 35 assists.
Sam Bennett (25) and Carter Verhaeghe (20) additionally joined Reinhart, Barkov and Tkachuk in Florida’s 20-goal membership.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice stated he favored how his workforce began on Saturday, however nothing a lot went proper for Florida within the last two durations.
“I assumed we stopped shifting the puck the way in which we will,” Maurice stated. “I do not assume we have been nice. However, offensively, I believe we generated extra on Saturday than in both of the primary two video games.
“Now we have plenty of room to get higher. … That is going to be a grinder of a collection.”
–Area Degree Media
