Ahead of the final minutes at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday night, Florida Panthers supporters — dressed in red jerseys and waving illuminated rally towels — began bidding farewell to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After losing to Florida 6-1 in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Tampa Bay’s season came to an end. After three prior futile attempts, this triumph represents the Panthers’ first-ever playoff series win against their in-state rivals.
Thanks to outstanding penalty-killing efforts and noteworthy performances from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and other key players, the Panthers won four of the five games in the series.
To find out who their next opponent in the second round will be, they must now wait to see how the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs series plays out. Game 5 of the series is set to take place in Boston on Tuesday, with the Bruins holding a 3-1 advantage.
Paul Maurice, the coach of the Panthers, voiced his joy, especially for players who had been disappointed in the playoffs in the past, such Sergei Bobrovsky and Aleksander Barkov. In Game 5, Barkov netted all of his goals, and Bobrovsky displayed a.896 save percentage.
A crucial part was also played by Carter Verhaeghe’s five goals, which will hopefully propel the Panthers forward in the next rounds.
Bobrovsky said, “Every series is unique, and this group of players is exceptional and works very hard.” Our structure is solid, and everyone put a lot of effort into carrying it out. We share a close bond.
Panthers players think they have what it takes to continue performing despite what they called an emotional and difficult first-round series.
There won’t be any emotional letdown because we’ll probably be playing our next major adversary, Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “This is going to be another exciting and fun series, whoever we play.”
In the previous year’s playoffs, the Panthers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Bruins 4-3 in overtime in Game 7. With this result, a formidable Bruins club that had established a regular-season record of 63 wins was eliminated. In the next round, Florida overcame the Maple Leafs in five games.
Florida’s record against the Bruins in the regular season was 0-2-2, with three of those defeats coming by a single goal. In those games, Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, while Barkov and Sam Reinhard both provided two goals and two assists.
Reinhard scored four goals and provided an assist as the Panthers split their series against the Maple Leafs during the regular season.
