Takeaways: Bennett and Marchand step up, lead Panthers to Round 2
The Panthers won the Battle of Florida and are headed to Round 2. Kristina Rutherford has the takeaways from the series-clinching win in which Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand played key roles.
The Florida Panthers won the Battle of Florida and they’re headed to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Facing elimination, the Tampa Bay Lightning started Game 5 as well as they could’ve hoped, with an early goal just a couple of minutes in that got the home crowd at Amalie Arena fired right up. But it was the only lead they’d enjoy all night, and for the third straight season, the Lightning have been taken out in the first round of the post-season.
The Panthers just wouldn’t go away during Wednesday’s 6-3 victory. They responded to Tampa’s quick start with a pair of quick goals of their own, and while Tampa did strike back, the Panthers struck harder. Captain Aleksander Barkov potted his first of the series, Brad Marchand came up with two monster assists, and Sam Bennett picked a corner with the game winner.
This was a shootout in the early goings. Gage Goncalves got Tampa on the board, Carter Verhaeghe tied things up, Anton Lundell gave the Panthers the lead, then Nick Paul evened the game at 2-2 — and the first period was barely halfway done.
Down two with more than four minutes to go, the Lightning pulled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, but Sam Reinhart scored the empty-netter soon after, which began the emptying of Amalie Arena.
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Here are some takeaways from a game that saw the Panthers take the Battle of Florida 4 games to 1, and sent Tampa Bay packing.
Bennett’s big impact
In a game full of momentum shifts and goals, it was Sam Bennett — shortly after he’d escaped from the penalty box — who gave the Panthers the lead they’d never relinquish.
Just six seconds after his penalty expired in the second half of the second period, Bennett found himself on a 2-on-1. He picked a corner under Vasilevskiy’s blocker, just inside the far post, then busted out a hearty fist pump.
It was Bennett who was also in the box earlier in the period — both of his penalties were for slashing captain Victor Hedman — when Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel tied it up 3-3. Bennett made up for that with his third of the series, and the series-ending goal.
The centre finished the game with six shots on net and nearly 17 minutes of ice time.
Marchand’s big set-ups
Bennett nearly potted his second of the game early in the third after a beautiful set-up from Brad Marchand, who wheeled around Tampa’s zone before feeding Bennett with a cross-ice pass. But Bennett hit the post.
Marchand’s first assist on the night gave Florida its first lead of the game when he fired the puck toward linemate Anton Lundell, right in front of the net. The puck deflected off Lundell’s skate and in (no kicking motion!).
Then Marchand helped insert the dagger. With fewer than seven minutes to go in the third, he threaded another beautiful cross-ice pass, this time to Eetu Luostarinen, who deflected the puck into the back of the net to give the Panthers the 5-3 lead.
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Vasilevskiy looked down at the ice after that one. This game was basically out of reach.
The line of Marchand, Lundell and Luostarinen was creating all night, grinding for chances, working both sides of the puck, and they combined for two big goals. Luostarinen led the Panthers with a goal and three assists in the winning effort.
Unusually quiet Lightning
Nikita Kucherov was the NHL’s leading scorer in the regular season, and he was held to zero goals in this series.
The Panthers did an incredible job of limiting Kucherov’s chances, and they were all over him, even at times deploying two defenders to apply pressure on Kucherov during penalty kills.
Kucherov managed just two shots on net in Wednesday’s loss, and his best chance came in close in the third period, but Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made the save with his helmet.
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Major credit is due to Florida for limiting the team that scored the most goals in the NHL during the regular season. The Lightning had one of the league’s best power plays through 82 games, but managed to cash in just twice with the man advantage in this series, including Guentzel’s goal to tie the game 3-3 in the second period.
It was Guentzel’s third goal of the series. Brayden Point had two goals in five games. Tampa Bay’s stars overall were limited, and that defined this state rivalry matchup.
Kindest game of the series
This Battle of Florida featured two suspensions through four games, and a game misconduct, but Game 5 was dialled back in intensity — at least when it came to physicality — for both teams.
There were just a couple of big hits, and no major penalties or suspensions in the series finale.
The Panthers were again without defender Aaron Ekblad. He entered this series in Game 3 after serving the last two of a 20-game suspension for violating the NHL/NHLPA’s performance enhancing substances program. Then, in Game 4 he took out Brandon Hagel and Ekblad was suspended for another pair of games. Hagel, meanwhile, didn’t play for the Lightning in Game 5 due to injury.
Ekblad has one game to serve before he can play in Round 2. Up next for the Panthers is the winner of Ottawa – Toronto.
