There was a three-year stretch, not long ago, when you could all but be assured the Tampa Bay Lightning would find their way deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The question then was whether anyone else in the league could dethrone the back-to-back champs, whether anyone else stood a chance. A win in the opening rounds, though, was a near-given. Then came the first-round loss last year, ending that mythic, dynastic run, bringing chatter about ends of eras. Still, it was hard to believe these Bolts were really done, especially after a season that saw their veteran leaders look downright dominant.
But Thursday night, under the Amalie Arena lights, the Lightning’s neighbouring rival put another nail in that coffin. A 5-3 Panthers win earned them a 3-0 series lead, pushing Tampa to the brink of elimination far earlier than expected.
Meanwhile, on Long Island, the Carolina Hurricanes did much the same, showing the hockey world their lopsided first-round bout is just as ill-fated as it seemed. With a 3-2 win, the Canes earned a 3-0 series lead of their own Thursday night, the battle for the Eastern crown beginning to come into focus.
It’s not over yet, of course, and you can count on both the Bolts and Isles doing all they can to make some noise before either series is truly through. But before we get there, let’s take a look at the night that saw Florida and Carolina ready the brooms.
With Bolts on the brink, Cats cementing status as underdogs-no-more
The 2022-23 Panthers were all adversity and resilience. They clawed their way into the dance, fought for every inch, and made fools of the doubters at every turn. This year’s Cats? They’re just a monster.
That’s no surprise for a club that finished atop the hotly contested Atlantic Division, and third in the East overall. But this early sprint past Tampa, and the manner in which they’ve bypassed them, has made it all the clearer.
Rewind to last year’s post-season, and Florida was kicking off their run by losing three of four games to Boston. It was only after that early stumble that they fought their way back, reeled off three straight wins, and took the series. From then on, they were a force, reeling off another three straight to start the second round, and completing the sweep a round later.
This time around, the Panthers have dispensed with the waiting game. Three games in, they’re already at their best.
It’s a full-circle moment for both Floridian clubs — the last time these two teams faced off in the playoffs, back in 2022, the Bolts made easy work of their rivals, sweeping Florida out of the second round. Now, the Panthers have a chance to become the first team in a decade to sweep a team that swept them last time out — surely a satisfying brand of revenge for their in-state rival.
Florida’s Lorentz putting together bizarrely clutch campaign
The Panthers and Lightning’s leaders were all over the sheet in Game 3. It was Matthew Tkachuk who kicked off his side’s scoring spree, and sealed it with the empty-netter. He’s tied for second in league scoring through three games, with three tallies to his name. It was Steven Stamkos who answered for the home side first, and past those respective leaders, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe all got in on the scoring, too.
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The goal that wound up as the game winner, though, came midway through the third period, from 28-year-old Steven Lorentz.
In true playoff-hero fashion, the goal is not only the first post-season goal Lorentz has ever scored, it’s only the second time this season that he’s scored at all. The Kitchener, Ont., native had exactly one goal during the 2023-24 regular season — Nov. 2, against Detroit.
Also a game-winner.
Stamkos proving his worth in potential final run with Lightning
Through three games, the first round has been an abysmal ride for the Lightning. But one thing has remained constant for the once-proud champs: Steven Stamkos fluttering the twine.
The captain is the only player to have scored in all three games of this series so far. That hot start’s made him only the third player in franchise history to score in three straight games to kick off a post-season campaign, No. 91 doing all he can to give his club a chance.
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Incidentally, Stamkos is also the only member of this veteran Lightning core that is unsigned beyond this season. When this playoff run concludes — which could be Saturday, in Game 4 of the first round — the two-time Rocket Richard winner will become an unrestricted free agent.
Should Florida earn that final win, and the Panthers sweep the once-dynastic Lightning out of the dance, you’d have to imagine that end-of-an-era talk would be sealed. And it’s fair to assume that might be the end of Stamkos’s time in Bolts colours, too.
Still, for all the hard negotiating from GM Julien BriseBois, and the questions surrounding Stamkos’s future, he’s proving here why he’s still an essential piece of this group.
Canes’ blue-line offence comes alive in Game 3
And then there’s the Hurricanes, and their own legacy questions.
For all the focus on the Canes’ forwards — on the familiar brilliance of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, the game-changing additions of Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov — Carolina continued to show in Game 3 just how dangerous the rest of its lineup is, too.
While it was Aho who sniped home the eventual game-winner midway through the tilt, it was the blue line that led the offensive charge to start the night. Veteran defender Brent Burns kicked things off with his first goal of the post-season five minutes into the game, followed soon after by fellow rearguard Dmitry Orlov.
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Carolina’s defence corps was among the most prolific in the league during the regular season, potting 49 goals as a group — that ranked them third-best in this regard, trailing only Colorado (whose defenders combined for 62 goals) and Calgary (52). While they were held off the sheet through Games 1 and 2, Carolina’s back-end offence made its presence known Thursday.
With the tally in Game 3, Burns now has 23 career playoff goals to his name, tied for the most among active defencemen. For Orlov, the goal is his first in the post-season in half a decade, his last coming in 2018, when he helped the Washington Capitals claim the Cup.
Andersen continues his run as Hurricanes’ X-Factor
While the club across from them found themselves waffling between goaltending options — starting Semyon Varlamov in Games 1 and 2, going to Ilya Sorokin in Game 3, only to throw Varlamov back in midway through the tilt — the Hurricanes have had to spend zero minutes mulling their goaltending in this series.
After putting up a dominant performance in Game 1, and sitting back and watching the crew in front of him wake up and take over in Game 2, Andersen put on a show once again in the series’ third instalment. The great Dane turned aside 29 of 31 shots from the host Islanders in this one, looking particularly steady in the third as New York outshot Carolina 11-3, but wound up unable to get that one more goal needed to tie it up.
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Through the series overall, the 34-year-old has turned aside 71 of 77 shots through three games — and, notably, he’s stopped all 25 shots he’s faced in third periods through those three tilts.
Carolina: Kings of the nail-biters
In a way, the Islanders’ best shot at taking down the behemoth Canes came in this third game. Carolina bested New York 3-1 in Game 1, and then 5-3 when all was said and done in Game 2. Here, in Game 3, it was a closer affair on paper, the Islanders falling 3-2, just a goal shy of making it interesting.
But the Eastern Conference underdogs — and all future Hurricanes foes — should take little solace in the closer affair. Because the Canes showed all season how comfortable they are in these games. They thrive in the nail-biters. Case in point: The club came away with a win in one-goal games 42 times during the regular season, tied with Vegas and Nashville for the most league-wide.
Now, that ability to lock up and hang on has them one win away from an easy ticket to the second round.
