Steve Gorten, Florida Hockey Now Writer
The season for the Florida Panthers is over, and it’s because they simply couldn’t solve Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in Game 6.
The probable 2021 Vezina Trophy winner stopped 29 shots in a 4-0 Lightning win Wednesday at Amalie Arena in Tampa that wrapped up this first-round playoff series 4-2 for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
STEVE GORTEN, FHN Columnist
“He’s one of the best goalies in the league, if not the best,” said Florida captain Sasha Barkov.
“It’s tough to score on him. You have to get more guys at the net and shoot the puck better. Easy shots on him are not going to go in.”
“We needed to get that first [goal],” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville noted. “We had some great looks, great opportunities. Some didn’t even get on net that could have been the best quality chances we had. …We weren’t able to crack him.”
Sometimes, you just run into a hot goalie.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they had zero room for such an obstacle after losing three of the first four games in this series.
“You get down 3-1, you don’t have many opportunities to have a game like we did [Wednesday] where you do what you wanted to do, and you can’t put one by him,” Quenneville said.
One figured Vasilevskiy, who is favored to win his second Vezina this year, was due to eventually have a performance like this before this series ended.
Vasilevskiy may have been even more motivated to get his first shutout of the season against the Panthers after watching 20-year-old Panthers rookie Spencer Knight limit the Lightning to just one goal in Game 5 — a spectacular playoff debut that included 36 saves.
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The Panthers scored four or more goals five times against Vasilevskiy this season, including Games 1 and 3.
In Game 3 in this same building, they rallied from two goals down to in the third period and prevailed in overtime.
It’s the only one of 31 games the Lightning have lost this season when leading after two periods.
So, there was hope when they started the third period Wednesday trailing 2-0. But they couldn’t break through, even while finishing with more shots (29-24) and scoring chances than the Lightning.
For the second consecutive game, the Lightning scored on their first shot on goal. This time, Tyler Johnson hustled to beat out an icing call and, from behind the net, backhanded the puck out front to Pat Maroon, who batted the puck in with his own backhand.
Knight settled in after that as he did Monday night and gave the Panthers a chance, allowing just a power-play goal to Steven Stamkos in the second period before Brayden Point scored on a stellar move with 5:24 left in the game and Alex Killorn added an empty-netter.
Knight played well enough Wednesday for this series to reach a decisive seventh game.
It’s just that Vasilevskiy was at his best.
So, a successful season in which the Panthers took a huge stride in the right direction ends just six games into the postseason.
“We had our chances in this series,” Jonathan Huberdeau said.
“Before the playoffs, we were one of the contenders,” Barkov said. “We played really good hockey in the regular season and showed everyone what we’re capable of. We played really good hockey in the playoffs. … We created a lot of chances. We just couldn’t win games.”
Said Quenneville: “We learned how tough it is to win in the first round. It’s the toughest round ever.”
This first playoff edition of the Sunshine State Showdown was every bit as emotional and intense as we expected and could have hoped for.
For stretches, the Panthers proved to be the Lightning’s equal. That’s why it was so disappointing for them that their playoff run ended as quickly as it did.
“That’s why your parents put you on skates when you’re 3 or 4 years old — to play in these types of games,” Barkov said.
“I enjoyed every second. I wanted this to continue even longer. But I have to say credit to Tampa. …They’re the team that knows how to win these games and they showed us. …That’s why you learn from them. They know how to win. And we’ve got to find a way to do those winning things, too, every time we step on the ice.”
The key for the Panthers is to make sure they build on this season. Next season, the goal should be nothing less than winning a playoff series.
“We can’t be satisfied with the improvement that we did have, which this year was significant,” Quenneville said. “Let’s keep thinking that that’s the rate we want to get better at.”
Steve Gorten, columnist for Florida Hockey Now, has covered the Florida Panthers for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the Columbus Dispatch.