Florida Panthers 'slay the dragon', beat Tampa Bay Lightning to advance, CBS News Miami's Steve Goldstein
SUNRISE - After losing two playoff series in the last three years to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers thought it was poetic justice that they would have to beat them to move on in the 2024 playoffs. And beat them they did, in a five-game series, culminating in a party-like atmosphere in the clinching game at home with a 6-1 final score.
With the Panthers up big late in the game, fans unleashed their emotions, cheering and singing a round of "nah nah, hey hey goodbye" to their cross-state rivals. It felt like a changing of the guard, a passing of the torch, of Florida's hockey supremacy.
Captain Leads
Aleksander Barkov is the longest-tenured player. He's been through ups, downs, changes, and everything in between. He saved his best for the series clincher, scoring 2 goals and putting up 3 points, both personal playoff highs.
Maurice Moves
Head coach Paul Maurice is in his 26th season. There is nothing he hasn't seen and in Game 5 he made a pivotal decision that helped spark the win. Maurice changed his top three lines, with the Panthers leading by a goal. Line changes usually happen when a team is trailing. Maurice reunited his effective line from last year's playoffs of Anton Lundell with Sam Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen. He then gave them the task of shutting down Tampa Bay's top line of their three stars, in a one-goal game. Lundell rose to the occasion and did the defensive job. The changes also put Barkov with Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe together and they produced the insurance goal to make it 3-1. The third line then scored the fourth goal to put the game away. Maurice has his finger on the pulse of his team and made the right calls at the right time to help seal the series.
Love For Bob
The past 12 months have been a storybook for goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. When the playoffs opened a year ago Alex Lyon was the Panthers starting goalie. Bobrovsky came off the bench and the rest is history. Now there is a love affair between Panthers fans and Bobrovsky that hasn't been seen since the franchise's beginning when John Vanbiesbrouck was in goal at the Miami Arena. The "Bob-by" chants ring loud at Amerant Bank Arena and the 35-year-old is eating it up. It was quite a day for him as the Panthers not only finally got over the hump and eliminated Tampa Bay, but for the third time in his career, Bobrovsky was named a finalist for the Vezina trophy as the league's best goaltender.
Video Rules
The Panthers have seemingly been on the short end of the officiating stick most of the season. In this series, Tampa Bay had about double the amount of power plays after four games. But in Game 5, two goalie interference video reviews went the Panthers' way taking goals off the board for the Lightning. There was contact made by Tampa players with Sergei Bobrovsky in his crease, the blue paint, and the letter of the law ruled.
High Five
Over the past three years, the Panthers have now won five playoff series. That's more than any other team in the NHL. And in their last three series wins they've closed them out in five games or less.
Home Clincher
It was a wild atmosphere with fans standing and cheering for much of the game. And it made sense. This is just the second time the Panthers have ever clinched a series on home ice at Amerant Bank Arena, and the fourth time overall fans have witnessed a home series win. The first two were at Miami Arena in 1996.
Next Up
The Panthers now await the winner of the Boston versus Toronto series. The Panthers beat both teams on their way to the Stanley Cup Final last year and unless the Maple Leafs have a sudden turnaround, it'll be a Panthers-Bruins rematch in round two.