The Florida Panthers opened the Battle of Florida with a statement, cruising to a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin their best-of-7 opening-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Will it be more of the same in Game 2 and the Panthers take a commanding lead into the series back to Sunrise or will the Lightning respond and level things up?
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Game 2 begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. It will be broadcast nationally on TBS and truTV and locally on Scripps Sports, with streaming options available on Max (national broadcast) and Panthers+ (local broadcast).
Follow along throughout the game for live updates, news, analysis and commentary.
No immediate update on Barkov
Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not have an immediate update on Aleksander Barkov postgame.
The team is flying back to South Florida immediately after the game and there will be a media availability Friday afternoon, where hopefully more clarity will be provided.
Panthers go up 2-0
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 19 shots he faced to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series at Amalie Arena.
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Florida is now 2-0 in the best-of-7 series after opening the series with a 6-2 win on Tuesday. The matchup now shifts to Sunrise. Game 3 is at 1 p.m. Saturday, and Game 4 is at 7 p.m. Monday.
Panthers PK excellent, now big moment upcoming
The Panthers are 5 for 5 on the penalty kill tonight. Tampa Bay has just 2 shots on goal while on the power play.
Tampa Bay’s most recent power play was cut short after Hagel got a 5-minute major for interference on Aleksander Barkov.
So 42 seconds of 4-on-4, then 4:17 of Panthers power play coming up midway through the third.
Barkov went to the dressing room after taking the hit from Hagel.
Panthers still up after two periods
The score remains 1-0 Florida over Tampa Bay after 40 minutes. The Panthers will have 1:10 left on a power play when the third period begins.
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The teams are tied 16-16 in shots on goal but the Lightning have dominated shot attempts (46-26), scoring chances (17-8) and high-danger chances (10-2). Sergei Bobrovsky came up with a few big saves in the final minutes of the period and is 4 for 4 in stopping high-danger shots on goal.
Things are getting chippy
We get a skirmish in the corner at the tail end of the Florida Panthers’ power play midway through the second period after Carter Verhaeghe boarded Brandon Hagel.
Verhaeghe goes to the box, as do Brad Marchand and Anthony Cirelli, who each get roughing calls.
So Tampa Bay is back on the power play.
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Florida had a couple looks on the power play but couldn’t get anything past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The hit counter for the game is already up to 42 (22 for Florida, 20 for Tampa Bay).
One-goal lead holds after one period
For the second consecutive game to begin the series, the Panthers enter the first intermission against the Lightning up a goal.
Florida once again did a good job of suppressing Tampa Bay’s shots on goal, with Sergei Bobrovsky seeing just seven shots in the opening 20 minutes. Tampa Bay did have an 8-4 lead in scoring chances and 6-1 advantage in high-danger chances, but a lot of their chances missed the net.
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The Lightning will have 1:24 left on a power play when the second period begins.
Panthers strike first
Even though the Lightning dominated possession in the opening four minutes and had a power play, it’s the Panthers who strike first.
Nate Schmidt blasted a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to put Florida up 1-0 4:15 into regulation.
It’s Schmidt’s third goal of the series.
His three goals already have him tied for third-most goals by a Panthers defenseman in a single postseason. The full list…
1) Brandon Montour (8 in ‘23 playoffs)
2) Gustav Forsling (4 in ‘24 playoffs)
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T-3) Nate Schmidt (3, so far, in ‘25 playoffs)
T-3) Montour (3 in 24 playoffs)
Lightning’s lines and pairings
Here is what the Lightning looked like during rushes, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduoardo Encina…
Forward lines
Goncalves-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Guentzel
Geekie-Paul-Chaffee
Girgensons-Glendening-Gourde
Defense pairs
Hedman-Moser
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Perbix
Raddysh
Goaltenders
Vasilevkskiy
Johansson
Obviously there’s one extra skater, so we’ll wait for the roster report to determine if Darren Raddysh is scratched or if they go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
UPDATE: Darren Raddysh is listed as a scratch, so Cirelli is in the game and Tampa Bay is going with a traditional 12 forward and six defenseman lineup.
Panthers lineup same as Game 1
The Panthers’ line rushes mirrored what the team ran in the series opener
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Forward lines
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Samoskevich-Bennett-Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand
Rodrigues-Sturm-Boqvist
Defense pairs
Forsling-Jones
Mikkola-Kulikov
Balinskis-Schmidt
Goaltenders
Bobrovsky
Vanecek
Early warmup notables
Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli is on the ice for warmups. He was a game-time decision after missing most of Game 1 with injury. Mitchell Chaffee is also on the ice, so nothing is set in stone just yet for Cirelli’s playing status.
The Panthers’ group is as expected.
Will follow up with lines and pairings as teams do rushes.
Series schedule
▪ Game 1 — Panthers 6, Lightning 2: Matthew Tkachuk scored twice in his first game with the team since early February and the Panthers suffocated the Lightning to win the series-opener.
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â–ª Game 2: Tonight
▪ Game 3: Saturday, April 26, 1 p.m., TBS, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 4: Monday, April 28, 7 p.m., ESPN, ESPN+, Scripps Sports, Panthers+, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, April 30, time and TV TBD, Tampa’s Amalie Arena
▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 2, time and TV TBD, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 4, time and TV TBD, Tampa’s Amalie Arena
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 2? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past week.
▪ Matthew Tkachuk’s return sparked the Panthers. Can it lead to another deep playoff run?
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▪ Five key stats from the Florida Panthers’ Game 1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning
▪ The Panthers knew they needed to challenge Lightning’s Vasilevskiy. They succeeded in Game 1 win
▪ How the Florida Panthers’ Sam Bennett elevates his game in the Stanley Cup playoffs
â–ª The Panthers understand the importance of special teams in playoffs