(1WC) Tampa Bay Lightning at (1A) Florida Panthers
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 2
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSFL, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360
Florida leads best-of-7 series 1-0
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers will look to take a 2-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round when they host Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.
In their 30-year history, the Panthers have led a playoff series 2-0 three times, two of them coming last season, in the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. The other time was the first round against the Boston Bruins in 1996, when they also reached the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers and Lightning will try to generate more offense in Game 2. In a tight-checking Game 1, they combined for 100 shot attempts (50 each), but only 47 shots on goal (28-19 Florida), including a combined 10 in the second period (6-4 Panthers).
“There wasn’t long stretches of zone dominance, there wasn’t long stretches of high-quality scoring chances,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday. “Both teams are going to look at, ‘How do we generate more, how do we get more time in there in their end, how do we create a little bit without opening their game.’ I think that will be the challenge tonight.”
Teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 series have an all-time record of 348-55 (.864). Tampa Bay is 22-4 in playoff games following a loss since 2020 (.846).
Here are 3 keys for Game 2:
1. A better start
The Lightning didn’t have a shot on goal in the first 15:55 of Game 1 and didn’t appear to find any kind of offensive footing until the third period, when they had nine shots on goal (they had 10 total through the first two periods). Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos knows that can’t happen again.
“We didn’t start the game the way we wanted to, we have to be better at generating some momentum early in the game,” Stamkos said. “They’re a good defensive team, but we’ll just try to have a quicker start and that can affect the outcome of the game.”
2. Being physical, but smart
The Panthers and Lightning combined for 116 hits in Game 1, but of the five penalties taken, not one was the result of a hit. Finding that balance of being physical, but smart, is what the teams need to do to avoid being short-handed.
“I thought we did a really job of not chasing hits, not running around and getting out of position,” Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said. “I thought we made contact when it was there. We played a smart but still physical game, and that’s going to be key, staying out of the box.”
3. Get the big guys going
Tampa Bay’s top-six forwards combined for 11 shots on goal in Game 1, with Brayden Point getting four, Stamkos three, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli getting one each, and Anthony Duclair had none. In fact, Kucherov, who led the NHL in scoring with 144 points this season (44 goals, 100 assists), got his only shot on goal with 25 seconds left in the game. The Lightning had 19 total shots on goal in the game.
"It's not a great recipe to produce offense,” Stamkos said. “The shot attempts were a lot closer than I think we thought they were at the end of the game. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think we can generate more and the more chances you get, the more opportunities you're going to have."
Lightning projected lineup
Anthony Duclair -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Steven Stamkos
Michael Eyssimont -- Nicholas Paul -- Mitchell Chaffee
Tyler Motte -- Luke Glendening -- Tanner Jeannot
Victor Hedman -- Darren Raddysh
Nick Perbix -- Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg -- Matt Dumba
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Matt Tomkins
Scratched: Austin Watson, Calvin de Haan, Conor Sheary, Max Crozier
Injured: Haydn Fleury (upper body), Jonas Johansson (lower body), Mikhail Sergachev (leg)
Panthers projected lineup
Vladimir Tarasenko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Evan Rodrigues
Nick Cousins -- Kevin Stenlund – Steven Lorentz
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Tobias Bjornfot, Kyle Okposo, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Evan Cormier
Injured: Ryan Lomberg (illness)
Status report
The Lightning did not hold a morning skate. … Motte and Perbix missed practice Monday but are expected to play. … Crozier, a defenseman, was called up from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Monday. … VMHockey. Lorentz comes into the lineup for Lomberg, who had one shot on goal in 6:32 of ice time in Game 1 on Sunday.
