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Takeaways: Battle of Florida heating up as Panthers grab 2-0 series lead
The Panthers are taking a 2-0 series lead back home, but the Battle of Florida is just getting started. Kristina Rutherford has the takeaways from a chippy Game 2 that raised the temperature in this series.
The Battle of Florida sure is living up to its name, even if the Panthers are coming home with a 2-0 series lead.
Defender Nate Schmidt scored the winner — again! — in Game 2 on Thursday, this time early in the first period, and Florida hung on until Sam Bennett added the empty-netter for a 2-0 win in front of a crowd that became very quiet at Amalie Arena.
And while the Tampa Bay Lightning head to Sunrise down a pair of games, the Panthers may be down their captain after Aleksander Barkov took a monster hit from Brandon Hagel. Barkov left the game halfway through the third, and didn’t return to the ice.
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It only raises the temperature and adds to the bad blood between these state rivals, who are meeting in the post-season for the fourth time in five years.
After the second period, the stripes had to intervene just to get players to leave the ice for intermission because they were pushing, shoving, punching and jawing at one another. Matthew Tkachuk and Anthony Cirelli were getting into it, and Tkachuk was chatting up Hagel, too — the pair fought right off the faceoff in the first Canada-USA matchup at the 4 Nations Face-Off back in February.
After Hagel’s hit on Barkov, you better believe there’ll be even more punches thrown. This battle is just getting started.
Following a blowout 6-2 victory for the Panthers in the opener, the second game of this series looked more like we expected, with great goaltending and tight checking and lots of hits — 72 in all.
Let’s take a look at the big storylines from Game 2 before this series shifts south.
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Florida Nate the Great
Tampa came out flying and had some solid chances on an early power play, but the wind was sucked right out of Amalie Arena shortly after the Panthers killed that penalty. And who should strike to open scoring for Florida? Nate Schmidt, of course.
After registering just five goals in the regular season, the 33-year-old defender had two goals in Game 1, and he potted his third to get the Panthers on the board on Thursday little more than four minutes in.
Captain Barkov won a clean draw back to Sam Reinhart, who sent a cross-ice pass to Schmidt on the other point, and Schmidt fired a one-timer against the grain as Andrei Vasilevskiy was sliding across his crease.
Vasilevskiy appeared to be screened on the cross-ice pass and was late coming across. It sure wasn’t the start the Lightning netminder was looking for after a dismal Game 1 that saw basically everything go wrong for the Lightning, including Vasilevskiy giving up six goals on just 16 shots.
Schmidt has Vasilevskiy’s number so far in this battle. No. 88 for the Panthers is also tied for the lead among defenders in playoff points, with three goals. He has more goals than the Lightning (2) have in this series. Thursday’s goal is also Schmidt’s second game-winner in as many games.
Lightning not quite striking
The Lightning led the league in goals in the regular season, and they had the look of a dangerous team, creating plenty of opportunities. Tampa had some Grade A chances throughout this game, but couldn’t convert.
On their second power-play opportunity, Brayden Point made a move at the side of the net, Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky overslid in his crease, and a wide-open net presented itself to Jake Guentzel, who couldn’t get his stick on Point’s pass.
Bobrovsky made some monster saves in this one to earn the shutout. Near the end of the second, he came up with a big shoulder save on Point on a breakaway, and then gobbled up the rebound. In the dying seconds, he made a save on Victor Hedman to seal the win.
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Weak special teams
Tampa had the fifth-best power play percentage in the league in the regular season. On Thursday, the Lightning were held without a shot on two power plays and went 0-5 with the man advantage.
The Panthers have been playing an aggressive penalty kill, not allowing the Lightning to set up. Tampa’s high-power offence — led by Nikita Kucherov, who won his third Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer in the regular season — couldn’t get anything cooking with the extra attacker.
Kucherov had just one shot on net all game.
Hagel’s hit
There were just 10 minutes left in the third when Hagel drew a five-minute major for interference with his hit on Barkov. The puck had already gone around the net by the time Hagel crushed the Panthers captain near the corner.
Barkov was slow to get up, then left the ice and didn’t return.
The Lightning managed to kill the penalty, and came out flying after that with renewed energy and a fired-up crowd behind them. Still, they couldn’t beat Bobrovsky.
Ekblad’s back
The Panthers are headed home for a pair of games, and while Barkov’s status is unknown, they’re getting a key player back in the lineup. Defender Aaron Ekblad served the last of his 20-game suspension on Thursday after violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
The 29-year-old Ekblad will be back with the Panthers for Game 3 in Sunrise on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET as they try to take a stranglehold on this Battle of Florida.
