SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to stave off elimination for a second straight time when they go on the road to play the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Monday.
The Lightning lost the first three games of the series but stayed alive with a 6-3 victory in Game 4 on Saturday. It was the most goals they’ve scored in this series after combining for seven in the first three games.
That was in Tampa. Now they’re on the road, looking to bring the same energy.
“The deeper a series goes, everything amps up,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Monday. “We had the benefit of a lot of things happening early in the game and our crowd was right into it. I would anticipate that same atmosphere here tonight.
“You know, people get jacked up, these crowds are into it, so it’s a ton of fun to be a part of it. But the players can feed off the emotion as well, whether you’re the home or away team. There’s just different ways to feed off a crowd.”
Teams that hold a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series are 306-32 (.905) all-time.
Here are 3 keys for Game 5:
1. Continue home dominance
After losing the first two at home in the first round against the Boston Bruins last season, the Panthers have won seven of their past nine playoff games at Amerant Bank Arena, including the first two of this series. In that stretch, they have scored an average of three goals per game while allowing just 2.33.
It hasn’t always been easy, with three of those wins coming in overtime, including Game 2 of this series. The Lightning, meanwhile, are 2-3 on the road in the playoff the past two seasons.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said he’s comfortable wherever his team plays.
“We started on the road last year, so we had to be a good road team. We have been good on the road. But by the end of the year, our home record had evened out; our home and road records are almost identical,” Maurice said. “Going back to last year, we feel that we’re a really good road team. Getting a split on the road in the playoffs is pretty darned good. We’re happy with the split.”
2. Keep Kucherov going
Though he has yet to score a goal in this series, Nikita Kucherov has six assists through the first four games, including three in Game 4.
Teammate Anthony Duclair said the NHL’s leading scorer this season (144 points) doesn’t need goals to make an impact.
“He does other things when he’s not scoring, so I’m not too worried about that. I don’t think anybody is,” Duclair said. "You saw last game he’s just a great playmaker and he finds guys when others aren’t looking. He’s affecting games in other ways when he’s not scoring.”
3. Contain the Lightning power play
Tampa Bay had the best man-advantage in the NHL during the regular season (28.6 percent) but was 2-for-12 entering Game 4. It responded by going 2-for-5 Saturday, with Steven Stamkos opening the scoring in the first period, and Nicholas Paul closing the scoring on a 5-on-3 in the third period.
A big reason the Panthers were able to win the first three games is because they stayed out of the box in the first two before the penalty kill went 4-for-4 in Game 3.
“Last game, we took too many penalties, and that’s the key to why they won,” Maurice said. “There’s no secret, we need to stay out of the box. I think the PK has been pretty good. I think we are fine. They scored on a 5-on-3, a 6-on-4; we do not need those. If we are going to take a penalty, we need to be smart.”
Lightning projected lineup
Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Anthony Duclair -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brandon Hagel
Michael Eyssimont -- Nicholas Paul -- Mitchell Chaffee
Tanner Jeannot -- Luke Glendening -- Tyler Motte
Victor Hedman -- Matt Dumba
Mikhail Sergachev -- Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg -- Max Crozier
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Matt Tomkins
Scratched: Austin Watson, Conor Sheary, Calvin de Haan, Nick Perbix
Injured: Haydn Fleury (upper body), Jonas Johansson (lower body)
Panthers projected lineup
Vladimir Tarasenko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Anton Lundell -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Kevin Stenlund -- Evan Rodrigues
Nick Cousins -- Steven Lorentz -- Kyle Okposo
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Evan Cormier
Injured: Sam Bennett (upper body), Ryan Lomberg (Illness)
Status report
Lomberg, a forward, will miss his third straight game. He has resumed skating, but Maurice said he probably needs a few more days before returning to the lineup.
