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Is there a better playoff matchup than the Battle of Florida? Game 1 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers was another electric chapter between the two rivals, with an absolutely ridiculous 109 hits combined between the two clubs.
Although it was the Cats that come out on top of the Bolts 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, the physicality was on full display and proved that this series is going to be appointment viewing yet again in 2024.
The two Atlantic Division dwellers have met twice in the playoffs over the last four seasons. In 2021, Tampa beat Florida in six games in the first-round, en route to winning their second straight Stanley Cup.
The next season, Nikita Kucherov and co. again got the better of Paul Maurice’s club, this time in a tidy four-game sweep. That season culminated in another run to the Stanley Cup Final, although the dreams of a three-peat were ended by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 SCF.
Fast forward two years and the two teams enter the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a ton to prove. The Lightning are looking to reach the sport’s ultimate series for the third time in five seasons. The Panthers are looking to prove that last year’s cinderella run to the Finals — an eventual five-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights — was no fluke.
And when these two teams meet in the playoffs, as we’ve learned over the last half-decade, there are always fireworks. And Sunday was no different, with Tampa Bay registering 55 hits and Florida adding 54.
“Everybody got a hit, that’s what it says there,” Cats forward Matthew Tkachuk said after the 3-2 triumph, per NHL.com’s Bill Price. “I don’t think I’ve even seen that. Somebody had 10. Yeah, a lot of hits.”
The 10 was Lightning D-man Matt Dumba, who was throwing his body around all afternoon long. Even Kucherov, who just won the Art Ross Trophy with an outrageous 144 points in 81 games, had five checks.
And every single Panthers player had at least one. Nobody passed up a chance to throw a hit, leading to another electric battle in front of the fans in Sunrise.
Panthers get job done in Game 1; Lightning looking to adjust
It was a battle, no doubt about that, and it was the Panthers who came out on top in a critical Game 1 at home.
“I think it’s going to look like this until somebody has to change the way they’re doing [things] because it’s not working for them,” Panthers bench boss Paul Maurice said when asked about the tight-checking nature of the game, per Price. “There wasn’t enough sustained action from either team to say, ‘Yeah, we got it.'”
“It’s two good teams, tight checking, teams do check,” Bolts head coach Jon Cooper echoed. “What we have to do is when we get the chance, we have to put [the puck] behind them, but I can’t sit here and say one team outchanced the other one. It was pretty tight-checking game, and in the end, it was a power-play goal that did it.”
That goal came from Carter Verhaeghe, who scored 58 seconds into the third period on a great pass from captain Sasha Barkov. Tkachuk would add an empty netter before Steven Stamkos cut the lead to one with just 10 seconds left. That’s as close as Tampa Bay would get in Game 1.
The Battle of Florida will continue when the best-of-7 series resumes on Tuesday night for Game 2. And, as has been a recurring theme between the Panthers and Lightning in the postseason, it should be a dandy.
More must-reads:
- Rangers' Vincent Trocheck downplays second-round showdown with former team
- Bruins HC calls out All-Star for lack of playoff production
- The 'MLB Rookies of the Year' quiz
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