AARON EKBLAD

Paul Maurice’s journey toward becoming the new coach of the Florida Panthers included a fortuitous flick of the remote control, plus was aided by a college admissions department.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy remained red-hot with 34 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning topped the Florida Panthers 4-1 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Florida Panthers found what made them the NHL's best regular-season team just in time to win the franchise's first playoff series in 26 years.

Panthers Capitals Hockey Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky reacts after allowing a goal by Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin during the third period of Game 3 in the first-round of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, Saturday, May 7, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON — (AP) — Aaron Ekblad paused for almost 10 seconds to consider what the Florida Panthers need to do better to even their series against the Washington Capitals. Now the pressure is on the Presidents’ Trophy winners and two other favorites all trailing their respective series 2-1 going into Game 3 Monday. The Pacific Division-champion Calgary Flames are in the same spot against the Dallas Stars, as are the New York Rangers against the Pittsburgh Penguins. “We got to continue to play the same way we have the first three games of the series,” Bednar said.

The pressure is squarely on the Florida Panthers, New York Rangers and Calgary Flames down two games to one in their respective first-round series.

Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers topped the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday night to even their Eastern Conference first-round series at a game apiece.

The eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference have been set since before the All-Star break.

Anthony Duclair scored twice, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and four assists, and the Florida Panthers romped to a 9-3 rout of the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

Andrew Brunette is ready to coach the Florida Panthers for as long as the team needs.

Joel Quenneville resigned as coach of the Florida Panthers on Thursday, two days after the second-winningest coach in NHL history was among those implicated for not swiftly responding to allegations by a Chicago Blackhawks player of being sexually assaulted by another coach during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Matt Ryan passed for 336 yards and Younghoe Koo made a 36-yard field goal as time expired to give the Atlanta Falcons a 30-28 win over the Miami Dolphins.

There used to be a thing called the Governor’s Cup, a trophy presented to whichever team won the annual regular season series between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

All divisional play through the first two rounds of the playoffs made a major impact at the NHL trade deadline.

Some of the NHL's top teams got a head start on the trade deadline by making moves.