For the second consecutive season, the Stanley Cup playoffs feature the battle of the Sunshine State. The Florida Panthers, who are the defending Stanley Cup champions, begin their title defense against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The two teams met in the opening round of the postseason in 2023-24, and it was the Panthers who won rather quickly in five games. Will they be able to repeat their performance this time around?
3 Lightning Players Who Failed To Deliver in Game 1 Loss to Panthers
1) Andrei Vasilevskiy
Rightfully regarded as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, Andrei Vasilevskiy picked a bad night to have one of his worst performances in recent memory.
The Panthers got six pucks by him on just 16 shots; he finished with an unbelievably poor and completely atypical .625 save percentage.
This is not at all the kind of performance that the Lightning need out of their big game goaltender, especially if they have any intention of avenging last season’s opening round loss to the Panthers.
2) Yanni Gourde
The former Stanley Cup-winning forward with the Lightning was brought back to town from the Seattle Kraken as part of a deal at the NHL Trade Deadline.
However, his championship experience proved for naught on Tuesday night, as not only was he held pointless and managed only a single shot on net, but he also tied for a team-high three giveaways among all Lightning forwards.
Like Vasilevsky, Gourde is a player who must elevate his performance in Game 2 later this week.
3) Brandon Hagel
After scoring 35 goals with 55 assists during the regular season for the Lightning, Brandon Hagel was unfortunately nowhere to be found on the scoresheet in Game 1 against the Panthers.
Hagel was not only held completely in check by the Panthers’ defense with zero points, but he also finished with a -2 rating, tied for the worst among all Lightning forwards.
It also didn’t help that he managed only a single shot on goal.
The Panthers Defeated the Lightning by a 6-2 Final
Thanks to a convincing 6-2 victory at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, the Panthers drew first blood in the series.
Both teams traded goals in the first period, as Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart struck for the Panthers while the Lightning countered with a goal from Jake Guentzel.
However, it was the Panthers who pulled away from the Lightning in the second period thanks to a pair of goals from Matthew Tkachuk and another tally from Nate Schmidt. While Tampa’s Brayden Point would make the score more respectable with his first goal of the playoffs late in the period, it would be as close as the Lightning would get.
Schmidt would score his second of the game in the third period to add insult to injury and cap the scoring.