RECAP: Panthers 6, Lightning 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – You can finally exhale, Cats fans.

After being knocked out of the playoffs by their cross-state rival in two of the last three seasons, the Florida Panthers finally got over the hump by eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-1 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.

For players that endured those years of heartbreak, the series win tastes that much sweeter.

“When there’s one team that always kind of beats you in the playoffs, both times in kind of similar situation where we have the home-ice advantage and both times they beat us, you want to beat them,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “You want to get over that hump. Big respect to them. They’ve been unbelievable the past few years, making the Finals and winning those Cups. There’s a lot to learn from that team and organization.”

Now that they’ve moved past their rival, the goal is to reach the same heights they did.

After all, the Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.

While it’s still unclear whether they’ll face the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins in Round 2, the Panthers plan to only savor this win for a moment before looking ahead to their next challenge.

“To be a part of this team and hear the crowd, this is a big series for us,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “We always knew that for us to ultimately win it all it’s probably going to have to go through Tampa at some point. Just an amazing feeling closing it out.”

As it was all series, a strong start proved to be key to Florida’s success in Game 5.

After having two early power plays stifled by the Panthers, the Lightning thought they opened the scoring when Anthony Cirelli crashed the net and buried a rebound. But after the Panthers challenged, the goal came off the board for a clear goaltender interference.

With play at 4-on-4 after a pair of roughing minors were handed out to end the first period, the Panthers capitalized just 45 seconds into the second when Carter Verhaeghe followed up on his own rebound and fired a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy from the slot to make it 1-0.

Netting five goals in the series, Verhaeghe’s 20 total playoff goals are a franchise record.

“I don’t think we really cared who we played, to be honest,” said Verhaeghe, who won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020 before signing with the Panthers. “Every game you go into is a process. We’re trying to play our best game every game. We’re not trying to play Tampa or trying to play Toronto. It doesn’t matter to us. You have to go through all the good teams.”

Following a key faceoff win in the offensive zone on the penalty kill, Barkov went to the net, pounced on a rebound and lifted the puck over Vasilevskiy’s pads to make it 2-0 at 12:38.

With the goal, he became the fifth Panther to ever score a shorthanded goal in the playoffs.

Less than a minute later, Victor Hedman answered for the Lightning with an absolute cannon of a slap shot that sizzled into the cage from the high slot to make it 2-1 at 13:37.

Near the end of the second period, the Lightning thought they had tied the game for a split second after Mikhail Sergachev touched the twine with another long shot, but the goal was immediately waived off by the official closest to the net due to goaltender interference. Tampa Bay challenged the decision, but the call was upheld and the score remained the same.

In the second period, the Panthers fired off 23 shots on goal.

Taking advantage of a defensive-zone miscue by the Lightning, the Panthers added an insurance goal in the third period when Barkov followed a Verhaeghe shot to the net and jammed the loose puck past Vasilevskiy from the blue paint to make it 3-1 at 11:06.

Following the goal, the usually composed captain exploded with raw emotion.

“I don’t know what to say there,” Barkov smiled when asked about his celebration, which social media certainly enjoyed. “It doesn’t happen too often. It definitely felt great. With how the game was going, it just felt great. That’s all I can say about that moment.”

In addition to netting two goals and dishing out an assist, Barkov also recorded four hits, two takeaways, two blocked shots and went 11-for-14 (78.6%) in the faceoff circle in Game 5.

“He’s kind of built himself now for the playoff game,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the two-way superstar. “He really doesn’t play a puck game, but he can. He’s going to the net on the shorthanded goal, he’s driving. Now he’s able to lead other players. It’s difficult to be an example to people who can’t do what you can do, but the hard things he does in the game we can all do. We can all compete shift on, shift out. He’s become a real fine leader for this team because he’s become like everybody. In saying that, he’s not like anybody else."

Showing off his silky mitts, Kevin Stenlund helped the Panthers tack on another goal when the shifty Swede sliced through Tampa Bay’s defense and set up Evan Rodrigues for a screaming one-timer from left circle that sailed past Vasilevskiy to make it 4-1 at 14:16.

“I thought in the third we probably played our best period of the series,” Rodrigues said. “We had a big challenge. They were going to have a big push. I thought it was the calmest we’ve played the entire series. Guys were calling for the puck. Guys wanted the puck on their sticks. Every guy wanted to make a difference. It was a hell of a period.”

Helping fuel the team’s exceptional finish was some savvy coaching from Maurice.

Adjusting his lines a bit, the veteran bench boss moved Tkachuk and Verhaeghe to play on a line with Barkov, while Sam Reinhart shifted down to play with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, a trio that found tons of success during last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final.

“When the pressure was the most extreme, guys stepped up and made plays,” said Maurice, who gave extra kudos to Lundell. “That takes courage.”

With another sellout crowd standing on its feet for the final few minutes of regulation, the Panthers added a pair of empty-net goals to give the win a deserved exclamation point.

 After Verhaeghe made it 5-1 at 16:03, Niko Mikkola launched a long shot into the abandoned cage to make it 6-1 at 18:50, giving the big Finn his first-career playoff goal.

Shutting the door, Bobrovsky stopped all 13 shots he faced in the period.

“I’m very thankful to God for this opportunity, for this position I’m in,” said Bobrovsky, who capped off his incredible series with a 31-save performance in Game 5. “I play for an outstanding organization with a great group of guys in front of 20,000 great fans.”

Like the Panthers, those fans are already champing at the bit for Round 2.

The job’s not done yet.

THEY SAID IT

“He was our leader all series. He led the way for us. When he’s going, it gives everyone an extra boost. I can’t say enough good things about what he did this series. We’re going to need that moving forward. I’m looking forward to watching it.” – Evan Rodrigues on Aleksander Barkov

"Tons of respect for what they've done and for all the players on the team that have won there and have had success. Just to be in a playoff series against your biggest rival is so cool and so much fun to begin with." – Matthew Tkachuk on eliminating the Lightning

“Barky’s our leader. He leads the way out there and we all follow him. He’s been unbelievable all year, and no different here in the playoffs. He comes up big at big times with big goals. He does everything right every game.” – Carter Verhaeghe on Aleksander Barkov

CATS STATS

- The Panthers improved to 7-0 when scoring first in potential series-clinching games.

- Aleksander Barkov is the second Panther to score a shorthanded goal in a series-clinching game.

- Florida’s six goals are the most in a series-clinching game in franchise history.

- Four different Panthers blocked at least three shots.

- Oliver Ekman-Larsson recorded a team-high nine hits.

- The Panthers won 56.1% of their faceoffs.

- The Panthers led 20-11 in blocked shots.

- Eighteen different Panthers notched at least one point in the series.

- Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk each tallied nine points in the series.

- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all eight high-danger shots he faced in Game 5.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Now, we wait.

With the Panthers set to face either the Bruins or Maple Leafs in Round 2, Boston currently holds a 3-1 series lead over Toronto and will try to close things out in Game 5 on Tuesday.

En route to last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers eliminated both teams.

Stay tuned to FloridaPanthers.com for updates.