Tampa Bay advanced with a 2-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 on Saturday. Florida eliminated the Washington Capitals with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 6 of the first round at Capital One Arena on Friday.
"Watching them against the Capitals, that series could have went either way," Lightning forward Ross Colton said. "We kind of know what to expect from them. It's probably going to be a grind and I think right now we just want to enjoy this moment but come tomorrow we have to go right back to work and know that they're going to have some bad blood from last year (when we defeated them in the first round in six games). We can't overlook them for sure."
The Panthers, who are the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division and won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL team with the best regular-season record, will have home-ice advantage against the Lightning, who are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had eight points (two goals, six assists) against the Maple Leafs and defenseman Victor Hedman was second with seven points (two goals, five assists). Forwards Ondrej Palat (three goals, two assists) and Colton (three goals, two assists) each had five points.
Andrei Vasilevskiy started every game and allowed 22 goals on 214 shots (.897 save percentage).
Carter Verhaeghe led the Panthers with 12 points (six goals, six assists) this postseason, including scoring the overtime winner in Games 4 and 6 against Washington. Claude Giroux has seven points (three goals, four assists), Aleksander Barkov has six points (two goals, four assists), and Aaron Ekblad has five (one goal, four assists).
Sergei Bobrovsky has started each game this postseason and has a 2.79 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.
The Panthers went 2-1-1 against the Lightning during the regular season and were led by Jonathan Huberdeau, who had seven points (two goals, five assists). Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell each had two goals and three assists, and Anthony Duclair had four points (three goals, one assist).
Bobrovsky was 0-0-1 with a 4.03 GAA and .850 save percentage, and Spencer Knight was 2-1-0 with a 3.54 GAA and .900 save percentage.
Tampa Bay went 2-2-0 against Florida and was led by Hedman, who had six points (one goal, five assists). Brayden Point scored in each of the four games, Steven Stamkos had five points (three goals, two assists), and Kucherov had two goals and three assists in his only game against them on April 24.
Vasilevskiy started three games, going 2-1-0 with a 3.01 GAA and .908 save percentage. Backup Brian Elliott did not play.
The Panthers, who advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1996, when they lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche, have played the Lightning once, losing in six games in the Stanley Cup First Round last season.
"Florida is a [heck] of a team, we've watched them all year," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We've had some amazing battles with them. People especially in Florida have been begging for the two teams to be contenders and go at it. I think last year many people said that might have been the series of the playoffs. They've retooled their team and brought some big names in there. It should be a ton of fun. They're fun to play against, they're competitive as hell and I think it's really good for hockey."
