TAMPA -- It's all right there for the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
Leading 3-0 in the best-of-7 series, they are game away from not only defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time, but sweeping the team that has been the gold standard for hockey in the state of Florida for at least the past decade.
And to do it at Amalie Arena in Tampa, in front of the Lightning fans, would seem like the icing on the cake.
But the Florida Panthers say they cannot get caught up in all that, instead they need to focus on the next 60 minutes of hockey – or more – that await them in Game 4 on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, BSSUN, BSFL, SNP, SNW, SNE, TVAS).
"I don't think the hockey necessarily changes, but your perception of it does," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Friday morning at the team hotel. "There's more intensity, there's more on the line. The desire, which is sometimes a dangerous thing for the team that's got the three (wins), that's closing out. And then there is also, in this situation, the desperation of the other team.
"But I'm not sure the hockey itself actually changes, other than those two things than can play into the game."
The Panthers have been here before. They led the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Final last season and won Game 4 on the road. It was the first series sweep in their then 29-season history.
But again, they insist they can't get ahead of themselves, especially against a team like the Lightning, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021, and also reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2022.
"We always approach a series that we are ready to play seven games no matter what," defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "At the end of the day, we are going to come in and play our game no differently than we always do. We don't expect an easy game tomorrow."
Nothing has been easy in this series for either team. There have been a combined total of 334 hits (Lightning 173, Panthers 161) in three games. The Lightning have blocked 52 shots to the Panthers' 44. The first two games were decided by one goal, and Game 3 ended up 5-3 after an empty-net goal.
If the Panthers are going to finish the job on Saturday, they know it won't be easy.
"It's just going to be same difficulty level that is has been this entire series," Ekblad said. "It's been a tight-checking series, one-or-two goal series, that's been extremely difficult, so we don't expect anything different tomorrow."
But Ekblad said the sweep of Carolina last season and the fact that Florida has made the postseason for five straight seasons after missing out six of the previous seven is also a huge help.
"The things that I've learned, the things that we've all learned in the last five years are completely the reason we're able to find success," Ekblad said. "I find experience is absolutely everything in a playoff series and it's showing."
Perhaps the biggest key for Florida in the first three games is shutting down the Lightning power play, which led the NHL this season at 28.6 percent. The Lightning are 2-for-12 in the first three games, one goal coming in a 6-on-4 situation at the end of Game 1.
In Game 3, the Lightning were 0-for-4 on the power play when they needed to have one. Now they face their season ending after just four playoff games.
"You just try to win the next one, that's all you can do," Lightning forward Brayden Point said after Game 3. "You put yourself in a hole. The series isn't over. We have to believe. All we can do is try to win the next game. That's where our heads are at."
Where the Panthers' heads are at will also play a big role in this game. They can't get too caught up in what the win would mean.
"Usually these games are played very fast, very hard, but not necessarily any different from any of the other games," Maurice said. "But it's the decisions with the puck.
"If you can control the desire, you play smart. If you control the desperation, you can be very effective. It's about controlling that emotion."
