Who is their starting goalie in Game 5?
Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger each started two games in the series, and each has been pulled once.
Bobrovsky started Game 4 after relieving Driedger and making nine saves in the third period and overtime of Game 3, a 6-5 win. Bobrovsky lasted until he allowed his fifth goal on 14 shots at 7:15 of the second period Saturday.
Driedger came in and allowed one goal on 12 shots, after he was relieved by Bobrovsky in Game 3, giving up five goals on 12 shots in the second period.
Rookie Spencer Knight, who made his NHL debut on April 20 and was 4-0-0 in the regular season, could be an option.
"We'll talk about it," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're talking about what time we're practicing for tomorrow. We'll reconvene and look at options."
How do the Panthers solve the Lightning's red-hot power play, which when healthy has options all over the ice, including defenseman Victor Hedman at the point, Nikita Kucherov in the right circle, Steven Stamkos in the left circle, Brayden Point in the slot and Alex Killorn in front of the net?
"You almost have to be perfect killing penalties," Quenneville said.
Florida has not been, to say the least.
Tampa Bay scored twice on five power plays in Game 4, with Kucherov contributing a goal and an assist as part of his four-point game (one goal, three assists). The Lightning are 7-for-15 in the series.
"Their power play is pretty dangerous, and I say pretty dangerous, extremely dangerous," Quenneville said. "Some of the looks, that's where they had the quality, and they don't need much. We have to be better on that PK."
Kucherov's status for Game 5 is in doubt after he was injured when Panthers forward Anthony Duclair slashed him on the left leg away from the play at 10:57 of the third period.
Kucherov didn't return and the Lightning did not provide an update after the game. Quenneville, though, didn't think much of the slash.
"Not much there for me," he said. "I hope he's all right."
Can Florida solve Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy?
The Panthers shouldn't be too worried about this one; they scored four goals in Game 1 and six in Game 3. They also scored at least four goals on Vasilevskiy four times in the regular season. The other six teams in the Discover Central Division combined to do it five times.
But Vasilevskiy made 39 saves in Game 4 and was arguably the Lightning's best player.
"He's a good goalie and playing well, but I think we can do a better job in front of him, putting rebounds in, stuff like that," Panthers captainAleksander Barkov said. "Obviously, we know how to score on him and we have to find a way."
The Panthers believe they will despite the mountain they have to climb to win their first playoff series in 25 years. Teams that trail 3-1 are 29-291 (9.3 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL series, and Tampa Bay has never lost in 10 series with a 3-1 lead.
"We are not happy with the result today, but nothing has changed," Barkov said. "We're still excited to be here. We want to win. We're ready to win and we want to play the right way for 60 minutes. That's how we're going to win. That's the only way."
