Florida Panthers v. Tampa Bay Lightning Series Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

26 comments

1. I turned this video on at a party and now all my friends want to repeat what they saw. Laughter and fun guaranteed💚

2. THE FLORIDA BOWL… NOW WITH EXTRA BEEF!

3. Who's tax free team will triumph. I will be shocked if this doesn't go 7.

4. Ekblad hasn’t sat out of 8 games.. he was suspended 20 games, including the first two playoff games. Do your research

5. I think this series will be like the Sharks vs Ducks back when they were both on top of their game. Hit after hit after hit.

6. Bolts in 6. Great video boys.

7. Florida hockey fan here, never forget '22 "Florida Panthers were at strip club before NHL playoffs sweep" 😆

8. Jesse’s analysis here is so BRUTAL lmao.

   “Tampa in 5 cause Florida is tired and have been playing poorly down the stretch” is such a lazy take when you realize the panthers have been resting 3+ starters for every game in the month of April, and that’s why their record was so poor to end the year. They full on nba style rested lmao

   Tampa may win, but the only health question mark remaining on the panthers is Matthew Tkachuk, who’s likely gonna come back for game 1. If Tampa wins, it’ll be cause they are better

9. This preview is another reason why Sasha Barkov is the most underrated player in the league. Not a single mention of last postseason best skater in Panthers. Expected more from this amateur panel

10. Hard to say…I think the Lightning have this one, based on what have you done lately because momentum is everything, right? Then I look at what happened in 2023 when Panthers limped in as #8, then beat the 65-12-5 Bruins on their way to the final. Then again, it was injuries that foiled them in that final against the Vegas. I wouldn't bet too much on this series.

11. Bennet-Tkachuk-Marchand line will be a pain in the ass to play against and on top of that Florida has Sasha Barkov who alone shuts down star lineups (McDavid was made a mortal last final series like never before). If, and I know it is a big if, Panthers are healthy they have this. Tampa is too good to win with a limping team even if Florida do have some depth.

12. I think people sleep on vasy’s injury. Two years ago against Toronto it seems he was hurt last year he seemed to not fully get back to form. This year he has a .921 save percentage his third best season and his best season in GAA at 2.18. Arguably Vasy is the best he’s ever been in the regular season and he seems to always get better in the playoffs.

13. Tampa in 6

14. To show how seriously even this series is by the numbers here are some crazy records: (combined reg and OT losses)

    Home record: TB: 29-12 FL: 27-14
    Away record TB: 18-23 FL: 20-21
    One goal game record(scariest for me as a Tbl fan) TB: 10-17 FL: 17-11
    Outshooting Opponent Tb: 24-16 Fl: 32-24
    Scoring First: TB: 35-14 Fl: 33-10
    Getting Outshot: TB: 21-15 Fl: 10-10
    Score 3+ goals (this is huge): Tb: 46-11 Fl: 41-8

    So the biggest fear for me as a lightning fan is how bad the Lightning were in 1 goal games and how good Florida was in comparison. Not a great omen for the playoffs imho although it is just the regular season. Florida doesn’t do well when they get outshot but if PoMo has his way that isn’t going to happen. Florida imo has the wildcard of not knowing how tkachuk, Marchand, Bennett and reinhart will look at first, missing a lot of games and getting tested like this early is gonna be real interesting to see. The lightning though, have been so hot and cold all season long too and they have quietly also had some bad injuries recently: Bjorkstrand,Raddysh, Glendenning. All in all im absolutely yapping about this series it should be an instant classic. Gotta lot of respect for the panthers (although they can be sore losers and weasels when they lose) so it should be fun regardless, don’t think either team is backing down.

    Lightning in 7.

15. Jesse keeps setting Steve up with Four Nations final nudge. Love it. As an American I get ticked off every time as well so thank you Jesse.

16. Tampa in 6. Prison rules Paul has a few good sound bites this series

17. Comes down to how healthy Matt Tkachuk is. I don’t like how the team handled benching every player down the stretch.

    I think the 2 big X factors are going to be Verhage and Samoskevich for the Panthers. Playoff Verhage is going to have to show up in a big way if we want a chance at winning it. Also I need to see Mackie keep stepping up like he has this season. He’s probably the most underrated rookie in the leagues

18. Panthers in 7

19. As a tampa fan i feel much better this year playing against florida but they still scare me. I dont know if we can really contain their forecheck and physical play and depth is still a problem for us. But florida's d core is worse we dont know how everyone will look for florida and bob factor as well.

20. Tampa in 5

21. As long as they go 7 games and destroy each other

22. The lightning arent that good. Dallas is meh. Vegas is meh. The only teams with a chance at the cup: Washington, Florida, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg

23. I think whoever wins this is coming out of the East. Vasy always scares the crap out of me and I did not want Tampa in the first round because Ekblad misses the first 2 games. But there is no way through the playoffs without beating good teams and who knows who will get injured anyways. If Matthew is healthy Panthers in 7 if he is not Tampa in 6.

24. Tampa in 6

25. It’s crazy how you would think a team like Tampa would be in the state of decline after all the years of dominance and the cap and age getting to them

26. If I were the Leafs, I'd be more worried playing Ottawa. They got nothing to lose, just revenge.