TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the top-ranked power play in the NHL, but through the first three games of their Eastern Conference First Round series against the Florida Panthers, their struggles on special teams have contributed to them falling behind 3-0.
Game 4 of the best-of-7 series is Saturday at Amalie Arena (5 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, BSSUN, BSFL, SNP, SNW, SNE, TVAS).
For the season, Tampa Bay converted on 28.6 percent of their power plays, including 31.2 percent at home. In this series, the Lightning are just 2-for-12 (16.7 percent), including a four-minute power play in the third period of Game 2 during which they could only generate two shots on goal.
In Game 3 on Thursday, Tampa Bay was 0-for-4 on the power play, failing to convert on three in the first period alone.
“We had three chances on the power play in the first and didn’t really get anything off that, and I think that kind of hurt our play,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said. “We need to do better if we’re going to get that many chances, it’s pretty rare to get that many chances on the power play and not convert.”
Nikita Kucherov drives the bus for the Lightning power play. He led the NHL with 53 power-play points (13 goals, 40 assists) this season. Steven Stamkos (19 power-play goals) and Point (15 power-play goals) are often the beneficiaries of Kucherov’s playmaking skills.
Stamkos has both of Tampa Bay’s power-play goals in this series, although one of them came with 10 seconds remaining in the third period of Game 1 (a 3-2 loss). Kucherov has earned an assist on both goals, but Point is struggling to find space in the slot, and the Panthers have taken away the cross-ice passing game that the Lightning like to employ with the man-advantage.
“Our PK has been building all year, obviously you want to stay out of the box as much as you can, especially against this personnel,” Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour said. “They’ve been together for a number of years and play well with each other, play off each other and have great, dangerous looks all over the ice.
“But for us, we’ve built a strong penalty kill since day one. They take pride in that. Each penalty there is, they get that excitement to get out there and block shots, make that big play. Guys are doing a great job.”
Although the Panthers have succeeded in making the Lightning's power play uncomfortable, when Tampa Bay has been able to set up its attack and put shots on goal, Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been there to make the stops, occasionally receiving help from the post or crossbar.
Point says that the only way to combat that is with more pressure.
“They earn their bounces and we’ve got to do the same,” Point said. “We’ve got to put more pucks on net, establish more zone time and create our bounces.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice gives credit to forward Kevin Stenlund as one player that has been leading the charge on the penalty kill. Stenlund also had a short-handed breakaway opportunity in Game 3 after forcing Kucherov into a turnover.
Maurice added that Stenlund’s versatility was on display Thursday, which was one of the reasons that Florida general manager Bill Zito brought him in on a one-year contract last offseason.
“The face-offs, the body position, the battles,” Maurice said. “He comes to the rink fully understanding that this is what I’m facing here tonight. He was mentally prepared for it and excited about it. He was really good.”
Florida’s ability both on the penalty kill and defensively has kept Kucherov (three assists) and Point (goal, assist) bottled up for much of the series. However, Maurice said he expects both players to have a say in what happens before the series is done.
“You don’t take those two players ever out of their games,” Maurice said. “They are so dynamic, they’re so good and Tampa has this kind of quick-strike ability, and you saw it in the top of the second [period] and we’re chasing the game. I think you manage those players as best you possibly can, but you just never control them.”
