Panthers understand importance of special teams in playoffs. Plus lineup notables
The Florida Panthers know just how important special teams are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Being able to gain an edge in that facet of the game, especially early, has the potential to swing a series.
The Panthers were right on both ends of it in their 6-2 Game 1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday to begin their first-round series. Florida scored three power play goals and went 2 for 3 on the penalty kill in the win.
And that’s going against a Lightning team that finished the regular season in the top 10 in both categories (fifth on the power play, 25.9 percent; sixth on the penalty kill, 81.6 percent).
“There’s confidence on both units,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, “and you need to have confidence on both units.”
The Panthers’ three power-play goals came on just three shots with the man advantage. Matthew Tkachuk, playing in his first game with the team since Feb. 8 after sustaining an apparent groin injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off, scored the first two in the second period before defenseman Nate Schmidt added one of his own in the third. It was just the third time in Panthers history that they scored at least three power-play goals in one playoff game. The others were May 10, 2024, against the Boston Bruins (four power-play goals) and April 17, 2012, against the New Jersey Devils (three power-play goals).
“There’s three stages for your power play,” Maurice said. “It’s either going like [Game 1] and the pucks are going in, or you’re getting your chances and you feel like you’re right there — that’s a pretty good place to be — or there’s nothing going on in your power play and that becomes a very negative, very frustrating thing for you. It’s your most skilled players. It’s the players who are under pressure to produce, and it’s a big part of the playoff hockey. So we think some pretty big confidence.”
As for the penalty kill, they held the Lightning to just one goal on their three power-play opportunities. Tampa Bay struck with five seconds left on its opening power-play in the first period when Jake Guentzel tapped in a rebound to beat Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at 1-1 with 7:39 left in the opening frame. The Lightning got four shots on goal in that stretch.
On the Lightning’s final two power-play chances, both of which came in the third period, Florida held Tampa Bay to zero shots on goal and just one scoring chance.
“It’s just anticipating plays and making sure nobody’s hanging behind,” defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said. “We have a mindset where one guy goes, everyone grows, so we gotta stick to that structure. Blocking shots is very key. And of course, Bobby’s our best penalty killer, which he was last night.”
Lineup notables
The Panthers are keeping their same lineup from their Game 1 win, so they should be as follows...
Forward lines
Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand
Evan Rodrigues-Nico Sturm-Jesper Boqvist
Defense pairs
Gustav Forsling-Seth Jones
Niko Mikkola-Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis-Nate Schmidt
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Meanwhile, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said forward Andrew Cirelli will be a game-time decision after playing just 6:21 on Tuesday and missing most of the final two periods.
Cirelli had career highs in goals (27), assists (32) and plus/minus (plus-30) this season.
The Lightning are already thin at forward, with Oliver Bjorkstrand (lower-body injury) already ruled out for the series. Tampa Bay has regularly run with 11 forwards and seven defensemen before the Cirelli injury, so their forward depth could be tested should he miss time.
This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 12:57 PM.
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