The Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Floria Panthers, losing 6-3 loss in Game 5 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round on Wednesday. The Lightning also lost to the Panthers in five games in the first round of the playoffs last year.
The Lightning (47-27-8) qualified for the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division. They have made the playoffs in each of the past eight seasons and in 11 of the past 12 but have not won a round since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2022 after winning the Cup the two previous years.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents: Yanni Gourde, F; Cam Atkinson, F; Luke Glendening, F; Nick Perbix, D; Jonas Johansson, G
Potential restricted free agents: Gage Goncalves, F
Potential 2025 Draft picks: 7
Here are five reasons the Lightning were eliminated:
1. Missing stars
This starts with Nikita Kucherov, who had four assists in five games. The Art Ross Trophy winner for the second straight season in 2024-25, who scored 37 goals this season and 44 the season prior, has gone missing offensively since the 2023 playoffs. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Lightning have not won a round since.
It wasn’t only Kucherov, of course. The Lightning did not get enough during the series from any of their stars, with the four players who scored 35 or more goals during the regular season -- Brayden Point (42), Jake Guentzel (41), Kucherov and Brandon Hagel (35) -- combining for five goals in the five-game series.
But it's more noticeable with Kucherov, who has not scored in the postseason since Game 1 of the first round in 2023, a run of 15 consecutive games without a goal, though he does have 14 assists during that span.
The Lightning led the NHL during the regular season with an average of 3.56 goals per game, but could not put their offense together during the playoffs.
2. Powerless on the power play
Jake Guentzel scored on the Lightning's first power-play opportunity in Game 1. It seemed to presage more power-play success for a team that finished fifth in the NHL during the regular season at 25.9 percent. Instead, the Lightning failed to score on their next 15 power-play chances before Guentzel broke the streak in Game 5. The Lightning weren't able to get good scoring opportunities in front of Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, and struggled to get in position for rebounds or second-chance opportunities.
It was never more evident than in Game 4 when they had a five-minute power play when Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola was called for boarding 19 seconds into the third period. The Lightning didn’t come close to scoring, and eventually lost 4-2 when the Panthers scored twice in 11 seconds later in the period.
3. No goalie heroics
During the series, it was announced that Andrei Vasilevskiy was one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL, along with Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings goalie. It’s an award he won once before, in 2019.
Vasilevskiy had an excellent regular season, going 38-20-5 with a 2.18 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and six shutouts in 63 games. It was a bounce-back season after he struggled in 2023-24.
But Vasilevskiy, who is well acquainted with playoff hockey, having won the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021) and the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs once (2021), did not play to that level enough during the postseason. He allowed 16 goals in five games, for an .872 save percentage, and never was able to make the above-and-beyond saves that sometimes are required to get past as difficult an opponent as the Panthers.
4. Home ice wasn't an advantage
In the final month-plus of the regular season, the Panthers fell off as the Lightning surged, earning them home-ice advantage for their first-round series.
But it didn't turn out to be an advantage.
Instead, the Lightning lost all three games played at home, falling in Games 1, 2 and 5 and were eliminated on home ice.
It was an especially surprising turn given that the Lightning had gone 29-8-4 at Amalie Arena during the regular season. It was the fewest regulation home losses of any team in the Eastern Conference; only the Kings (six) and the Jets (seven) lost fewer games than the Lightning at home this season.
5. Frustration on the forecheck
There's no question that it's difficult to handle the Panthers' aggressive, relentless forecheck; it’s a large part of what got Florida to the Stanley Cup Final the past two years.
But the Lightning seemed even less able to handle the push, often struggling to get the puck out of their zone in the face of the pressure. The Panthers were fast, skilled and hard on the forecheck, as they have been during their back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Lightning could not figure it out.
