Florida Panthers Off to a Great Start, Blow Out Lightning in Game 1

TAMPA — If anyone was worried that the Florida Panthers would be unable to put things back together after a uninspiring end to their regular season, well, Tuesday’s playoff opener against the Lightning may have put those all to rest.

Paul Maurice rested up his players as much as he could down the stretch, and that had some pundits wondering whether the Panthers were up to the task of another long playoff run — or even had enough to get past the Lightning.

Tuesday was only one game, but the Panthers looked right for a lot of Game 1.

The Panthers, fueled by a three-goal outburst in the second period, rolled to a 6-2 win over the host Lightning on Tuesday night to grab home ice advantage back in this best-of-7 series which continues here on Thursday.

Matthew Tkachuk made a triumphant comeback with a pair of power play goals in that big second period, one in which Florida took a commanding four-goal lead.

“I was just super grateful to be out there,’’ Tkachuk said, “and loved every second of it.”

Florida led 1-0 off a beaut of a goal from Sam Bennett off a feed from Mackie Samoskevich and never trailed.

The Panthers and Lightning were tied at 1 up until Sam Reinhart scored to close the first, and then Florida was off to the races.

Nate Schmidt had a playoff game to remember, scoring twice including a hard-charging goal early in the second that made it 3-1.

“We put together a good game,” said Sergei Bobrovsky, who ended with 20 saves. “The whole team played great. They grinded, they worked hard, they were focused, so it’s a big one for us.”

Florida only took 16 shots on goal, but scored on three straight shots in the second with Tkachuk cashing in on two of them.

Maurice was hesitant to heap too much praise on the win — actually, he was more of the pour-cold-water attitude — knowing much still has to be done.

But the Panthers looked strong in all facets of the game.

Will Florida go 3-for-3 on the power play every night?

No.

Will seemingly everything go their way moving forward.

Doubtful.

But this was a pretty good start.

And now, the Lightning are reeling a bit heading into Game 2.

“A series isn’t won in one game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s a positive. We gave up six goals. We’re a pretty decent defensive team and we’re good on the PK; we gave up three on that. We can sit here and dissect this game all we want but the bottom line is, we lost.

“We’ll turn the page and move on.’’

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 2

FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-0) at TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 

• When: Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• National TV: TBS/truTV
• Streaming: Panthers+, MAX
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 6, @ Tampa Bay 2; Game 2 at Tampa: Thursday, 6:30 (TBS/Scripps); Game 3 at Florida: Saturday, 1 (TBS/Scripps); Game 4 at Florida: Monday, April 28, 7 (ESPN/Scripps); Game 5* at Tampa: Wednesday, April 30 (TBA); Game 6* at Florida: Friday, May 2 (TBA); Game 7* at Tampa: Sunday, May 4 (TBA).
• Regular Season Series: Tied 2-2
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-53-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Tampa Bay Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.