FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The toughest game to win in a Stanley Cup Playoff series may not necessarily be a Game 7, but the one that will close things out.
With a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference First Round, the Florida Panthers have a chance to advance in Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Wednesday (7:30 ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360).
The Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last season, understand getting that fourth win will be the toughest of them all.
“You are going to be playing a team that has nothing to lose,” Florida center Sam Bennett said. “We have been there a bunch of times. You give it everything you can, try and play as hard as you can because if you don’t, that’s it. We’re prepared for that.
“As the team that can close out, sometimes there is a tendency to look past it, to not worry about that game. But it is the hardest game to win for a reason, you cannot take it lightly at all.”
Over the course of the previous two postseasons, the Panthers have been on each end of the close-out game.
In the 2023 first round, they trailed 3-1 to the Boston Bruins but won the next three to advance, capped off by an overtime goal from Carter Verhaeghe in Game 7 for a 4-3 victory.
Florida held a 3-0 series lead on Tampa Bay in the first round last season. It lost Game 4 by a 6-3 score before closing out the series with a 6-1 victory in Game 5.
“What I think we have learned over the past few years is that there is a slightly different emotion coming into an elimination game for both teams,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You want to avoid that emotion. I’m not talking about energy level or not playing as hard as you can.
“You have a tendency to protect it, or, every time you touch the puck, you want that event to happen so badly you try and make it with that one touch. … We have learned that there are certain emotions you need to stay away from in this game.”
The Panthers will have to play at least Game 5 on Wednesday without top defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who was suspended two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday for his elbow against Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the second period of Florida’s 4-2 win in Game 4 on Monday.
On Tuesday, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Hagel, who did not return to Game 4 after the hit, would not play Wednesday.
Ekblad had returned for Game 3 after serving a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
“Over the last three years, we have had really important players out for big blocks of time,” Maurice said. “The first time it happens, there are even questions from the coaching staff about how to make the right adjustment in your lineup and how that will play out. There is a lot of unknown. Because we have been through it so much, and Aaron has been out, we know how to [spread] out the minutes. If he’s not out of the lineup, we’ll go with what we’ve got.”
With Ekblad out, it’s likely the Panthers will turn to defenseman Uvis Balinskis, who played 76 regular-season games and was in the lineup for their first two wins of the series in Tampa.
“I think one of our strengths is how deep this team is,” Bennett said. “We have had guys step up all year when others have been out. I am sure we will do it again.”
