The Tampa Bay Lightning saw their season draw to a close on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their First Round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Florida Panthers.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring for the first time in the series and also earned their first power-play goal of the matchup, but the Panthers scored the game's final three goals to take a 6-3 win at AMALIE Arena.
“Whether the series, they swept us or it was 4-1, 4-2, to me that's kind of irrelevant,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said postgame. “They beat us. We’re in a really tough division, and we've (both) been the rep in the conference final or in the Stanley Cup Final the last five years. It was our turn for a while. Now, it's theirs, and our job is to make sure it's our turn again.”
This marks the second straight season that Florida has defeated the Lightning in five games during the first round of the playoffs. Florida went on to win the Stanley Cup last season.
“We obviously only won one out of five, and same result as last year,” captain Victor Hedman said. “But it felt different this year. It felt closer, but we just couldn’t get it done.”
Tampa Bay opened the scoring on Wednesday for the first time in the series. Hedman’s point shot was deflected by Luke Glendening in the high slot, and the puck found an open Gage Goncalves near the right post.
Goncalves scored into the top half of the net for a 1-0 lead two minutes, 33 seconds into the game, but Florida scored the next two goals to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Panthers evened the score on the power play, this one a rebound goal for Carter Verhaege 5:21 into the game. Anton Lundell then gave the visitors their first lead just past the midway point of the first period with a net-front deflection of Brad Marchand’s pass from the left wall.
"They're a good team,” Hedman said. "They took advantage of our mistakes today and pucks ended up in our net. It's unfortunate. We got the lead today, and they score right away on the power play when they get the chance. They're a great team, and it’s not for nothing. They won last year.”
Tampa Bay knotted the score 2-2 just over a minute after the Lundell goal thanks to Nick Paul, whose spinning shot beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Lightning rookie Conor Geekie forced a Panthers turnover in the offensive zone and tapped the puck to Paul for Geekie’s first career Stanley Cup Playoffs point.
“To have some good, young prospects, you always want that,” Cooper said. “Julien (BriseBois) made a great acquisition in picking him up, and he’s 20. So the future’s bright.”
The teams traded goals again in the second period.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov’s first goal of the series came on a redirection less than a minute into the middle frame before Tampa Bay got its first power-play goal of the series to tie the game 3-3.
Jake Guentzel’s shot from the top of the left faceoff circle evaded Bobrovsky 9:57 into the period after Hedman had drawn two Florida penalty killers to the middle of the ice.
Florida regained the lead late in the period, as Sam Bennett exited the penalty box and was sprung for a rush chance. He scored on a shot from the right faceoff circle with 4:47 remaining in the period.
Florida added two more goals in the third period for a 6-3 final score and the series win.
Hedman led the Lightning with two assists, while Eetu Luostarinen paced the Panthers with four points.
“Thought the games were close,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said of the series. “They just, they found ways to win and we didn’t. We had the lead, we couldn't extend it. When it was a tie game, they found a way to score and we didn’t. Give a lot of credit to them, but I thought they were close games.”
Tampa Bay enters the offseason after a 47-27-8 record during the regular season. The Lightning felt poised for a longer playoff run this spring, but now the focus turns to improving for next year.
Despite being proud of what they accomplished this year, Tampa Bay wants to get back to furthering its postseason success in 2025-26.
"We have a group in here that we really believed in, and that's not going to change going forward,” Hedman said. “So good experience for the young guys who’ve never had a feeling of postseason hockey, so hopefully they can build on that throughout the summer. And for us who have been here, three straight years we’ve been knocked out in the first round. So we’ve gotta put a stop to that next year.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Eetu Luostarinen, FLA (Goal, 3 assists)
2. Anton Lundell, FLA (Goal, 2 assists)
3. Victor Hedman, TBL (2 assists)
