Panthers in Familiar Situation With Chance to Close Out Series Against Lightning

Tampa, Fla. — Coming off the high of a late comeback win in Game 4, the Florida Panthers — holding a 3-1 series lead — will have the chance to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night in Tampa.

The opportunity at hand feels oddly familiar to last season.

In the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Panthers had the chance to sweep the Lightning in a road Game 4 at Amalie Arena.

Facing elimination at home, Tampa kept their season alive by taking down Florida 6-3, before being eventually falling to the eventual champions 6-1 in Game 5.

En route to their Stanley Cup Win victory last season, the Panthers played in nine elimination games — all of those being potential series clinchers for them. They went 4-5 in said games.

“Well, it doesn’t make any of it easier,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his team’s experience playing in potential series clinchers. “We’ve got nine guys — 10 guys who’ve been here for a couple of years, shared experiences… You can go back and relate to different styles of game that are played in potential elimination games. I think the emotional part is better understood to you coming to the rink.”

“You get up three nothing on Edmonton and now with the prize potentially at the end of the game — we learned a lot, we got beat 8-1,” Maurice spoke of the team’s journey last postseason. “But we’ve also had games that we’ve come in and been  strong and been able to win. So that part has to become secondary — the context (of the scenario) has to be secondary. That’s what we should have learned. We’ll try to reinforce that tonight… the game is the most important thing tonight.”

The Panthers and Lightning have met in the postseason four of the past five years, with the winner of the series reaching the Stanley Cup Final each time (Tampa 2021,2022; Florida 2024).

This rendition of the Battle of Florida has seen everything: major penalties, late comebacks, multiple suspensions. It’s no secret that these two teams don’t like each other.

“It’s definitely a rivalry that has been built,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “I feel like anytime we come in here — [when] they come to us — there’s going to be some sort of something like that (aggressive and physical hockey.”

Looking to close out the series, the Panthers will be without top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who was suspended two games for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the second period of Game 4. Ekblad will also be out of a potential Game 6 in Sunrise or Game 1 of the second round if the Panthers were to win  Wednesday night.

The Lightning have ruled out Hagel for Game 5.

With Ekblad out of the lineup, Uvis Balinskis — who played in Game 1 and 2 of the series in the absence of Ekblad who was serving the remainder of a previous 20-game suspension  —  will return to the lineup.

Balinskis appeared in 76 regular games during the regular season, scoring four goals and 18 points (4-14-18).

“It’s exciting to be back in the line,” Balinskis said. “Playoff hockey is very different [from] the regular season and it’s way more exciting.”

Other than Balinskis drawing in for Ekblad, the Panthers will run the same lineup as they did in Game 4.

Wednesday night’s Game 5 puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. EST from Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL.

Projected Lines

Verhaeghe – Barkov – Reinhart

Rodrigues – Bennett – Tkachuk

Luostarinen – Lundell – Marchand

Greer – Sturm – Boqvist

Forsling – Jones

Mikkola – Kulikov

Balinskis – Schmidt

Bobrovsky (Starter)

Vanecek

Expected Scratches: Samoskevich, Nosek, Gadjovich, Megna, Ekblad (suspension)