Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Beat Lightning in 5, Back to the Eastern Conference Semis

Paul Maurice: Florida Panthers Beat Lightning in 5, Back to the Eastern Conference Semis

I’d like to take credit for it, but it was almost there when I got here, right? The idea of Looster Ryan uh was playing in the four hole at center ice and we got to training camp and he was clearly a top nine guy and then um I think uh Marshman had played left wing with Lundelle and Reinhardt the year before. Lundell had scored 18. Reinhardt I think had 33. So the pieces were there. They went together and they were a very good line. The next year, a really important part. I think Anton’s still 21 at that time. The next year, Reinhardt takes off with Bararkov and Terasenko comes in and and what you the the original driver of that line is Lucron and Lundell are very responsible defensively, but there’s more there. Lundy scored 18 goals as a as a youngster in this league. And sometimes it’s you have to believe that that you can score and and Brad is a higher level of skill. With all due respect, it’s a different level of skill. And then those two men are at a different time in their career. So they start to think about I can be a really good defensive player, but we can also score some goals. Brad’s personality is a really important part of that, too. who both uh A2 and Anton are are very quiet guys, serious, great competitors, but Brad brings something else out of them. They were fantastic tonight, but they were also really strong last game as well. Coach, obviously this is a team built on defense. Just what does it say about the group to have that one goal lead and protect it in the third period? I think you only allowed seven shots on goal. Oh, we had good goalending, some good shot blocks. I think, you know, for for a team to continue to grow, we actually have to find a way to be better than we were in the third. Um, but but reasonably smartly played because in the position that Tampa found itself with their skill set, then they had to take some chances. So, Sam Bennett four on four gets a great chance. We get an oddman rush for a goal and that’s really what the game will happen. They’ll put tremendous pressure on you in the offensive zone. their deep pinch on everything and now you’ve got a battle on the walls and we turn some over and we’ll learn from that. But that’s what the third period’s supposed to look like. You’ve got to be able to and then Sergey was really good all night but the two saves in the second period were, you know, if they had happened in the last two minutes of the game, that’s all we would talk about, right? He saved the game. But they happened in the second period and more goals went in. You end up underappreciating how important that was. Uh Paul with Sam Bennett set that second period goes in the box twice. First time they tie the game. Second time he’s able to go in get some redemption afterwards and score the gohead goal. Just that wave of events and just the as Ben Sam said he was a way off his shoulders to be able to score that. Just to walk through him being able to to step up when he needed to after the two penalties happen. lonliest place in the world is in the penalty box when you got to make that skate across the ice after you’ve given up a a goal. Um, and but that’s just the way he plays. He plays the game so hard. He’s hard on every puck. There’s going to be the occasional broken stick when you’re competing for a puck with uh Sam. But what we appreciate most is his game then didn’t get out of control after, right? He comes out of the box, he scores a goal, then he goes back to playing. He’s not trying to get it back. He’s not changing his game. He was really good. It th this series for that line especially was a challenge. We had a first year player with Matthew Samoscavage and um I I I think Matthew is right now but he wasn’t right at the start. He wasn’t at 100% and he played 12 minutes the first night. So it kind of builds. So Sam has kind of had to kind of monitor that line a little bit. Evan going there to on the left wing has made it made it a really good

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice speaks to the media after his team beat the host Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.

The Panthers won the best-of-7 series against the Lightning 4-1 for the second straight postseason.

Florida will play the winner of Toronto/Ottawa in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

How Brad Marchand Joined the Florida Panthers: https://floridahockeynow.com/brad-marchand-joins-florida-panthers-how-it-happened-nhl-trade-bruins/

2024 Stanley Cup Champions Honored at the White House: https://floridahockeynow.com/stanley-cup-champion-florida-panthers-honored-at-white-house/

Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning Bringing Hockey Outdoors – In Florida: https://floridahockeynow.com/nhl-outdoor-hockey-miami-tampa-florida-panthers-lightning/

The Florida Panthers Get Their Rings. They’re Spectacular: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-get-stanley-cup-championship-rings-theyre-spectacular/

The Florida Panthers Are Stanley Cup Champions: https://floridahockeynow.com/can-you-believe-it-florida-panthers-are-stanley-cup-champs/

Wednesday, Florida took a 4-3 lead on a Sam Bennett goal late in the second.

Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Sasha Barkov, Eetu Luostarinen, and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

For the most in-depth coverage of the Florida Panthers:
— Visit Florida Hockey Now — https://floridahockeynow.com

— Subscribe to Florida Hockey Now: https://floridahockeynow.com/membership-account/subscribe-to-fhn/

— Like Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/flahockeynow/

— On Bluesky:

* https://bsky.app/profile/georgerichards.bsky.social

—Follow us on Twitter: 

* https://twitter.com/GeorgeRichards

* https://twitter.com/thegovman

Video Courtesy Florida Panthers / Panthers Vision