(1A) Panthers at (1WC) Lightning
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3
7 p.m. ET, MAX, TBS, BSFLX, BSSUN, BSFL, TVAS2, SN
Florida leads best-of-7 series 2-0
TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to end a five-game postseason home losing streak when they host the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
The Lightning have not won a home playoff game since Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. They lost Games 4 and 6 of that Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche, and all three of their home games against the Toronto Maple Leafs -- each in overtime -- in the first round last season. They lost each series in six games.
After losing Games 1 and 2 at Amerant Bank Arena, each by a 3-2 score, they are happy to be home. But after two slow starts, including having three shots on goal in the first period of Game 2 on Tuesday, they know the crowd alone won’t help them.
“It’s been two close games, kind of similar starts where they outshot us early on,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said Wednesday. “Home ice is one thing, but you still have to go out there and execute and stick to your game plan. Just because you are back home doesn’t mean it’s going to be easier. But obviously we are going to feed off the crowd, we have to get that extra energy, get those guys behind us and feed on that.”
Florida will be without second-line center Sam Bennett for at least a week because of a hand injury sustained in Game 2.
Teams that take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series have an all-time series record of 202-4 (.981). The last team to win a series after being down 3-0 was the 2014 Los Angeles Kings in the first round against the San Jose Sharks.
Here are 3 keys for Game 3:
1. Make the extra play
In the first two games of this series, the Panthers have made the big plays, whether it was forward Carter Verhaeghe scoring in overtime in Game 2, or the tiebreaking power-play goal in Game 1, or goalie Sergei Bobrovsky making a spectacular save to keep Game 2 tied.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper says it’s time for someone on his team to make the game-deciding play.
“In the end, they’ve made the last play, and they’ve done it both nights,” Cooper said. “And we can’t hang our hat on, ‘Wow, we were close.’ That’s what teams that are playing golf right now are saying, and if we don’t want to do that, we have to be the team that makes the extra play.”
2. Replacing Bennett
The center was a big reason the Panthers won Game 2, scoring their first goal and then assisting on Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal that made it 2-0. Bennett had 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 69 games during the regular season. Anton Lundell will take his spot centering the second line.
“We have people who can come in and play center," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "We’ve played playoff games with Bennett out, with [Aleksander] Barkov out, so we have a pretty good template of what the lines look like. We’ll fool around with it, maybe.”
3. Rely on history
Tampa Bay has been here before; the Lightning lost the first two games of the 2022 Eastern Conference Final at the New York Rangers and trailed 2-0 in Game 3 before they rallied to win the best-of-7 series in six games. The 2003 Lightning did the same thing, defeating the Washington Capitals in the Conference Quarterfinals after being down 2-0.
“The one thing I hate doing in situations like this is saying, ‘Well, we did it then, we’re going to do it now,’" Cooper said. "We can do it now, but what we did back then was just played a one-game series. We didn’t sit here and say, ‘Oh my gosh, now we’re down two.’ We’re not going to win two games [Thursday]. We just have to win one. That is the attitude we had back then and it just kind of snowballed after that.”
