Reinhart, Bobrovsky lead Panthers past skidding Devils 4-2
NEWARK, N.J. — (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves as the Florida Panthers beat New Jersey 4-2 Saturday night, handing the first-place Devils their fifth straight loss. Bobrovsky, making his sixth straight start, got his 343rd career victory and improved to 18-5-1 against the Devils. Erik Haula had a goal and an assist and John Marino also scored for the Devils, who are 0-4-1 on their current skid. Reinhart gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 8:54 of the first period, finishing off a passing sequence with Aleksander Barkov and Ekblad. Reinhart restored the two-goal margin with 41 seconds remaining in the second, tipping a shot by Ekblad past Schmid for his 11th goal of the season.
wftv.comFor Panthers, regular season success didn't lead to Cup run
SUNRISE, Fla. — (AP) — There will be a Presidents’ Trophy banner hanging over the Florida Panthers’ home ice next season. And the earliest that the Panthers will again have to hear about a 26-year drought between playoff series wins is in 2048. On those levels, it was a tremendous season for the Panthers. The best team in hockey’s regular season fell well short of its goal in the postseason. Thornton came to Florida with hopes of finally hoisting a Stanley Cup; time will tell if he has one more season in him.
wftv.comVasilevskiy, Lightning beat Panthers 2-0 in Game 4 for sweep
Vasilevskiy won his sixth straight game, a streak that began with the Lightning facing a 3-2 series deficit in the opening round. The Lightning joined the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens as the only franchises to win at least 10 consecutive playoff series. NOTES: The Panthers outshot the Lightning 17-3 in the first period and 34-15 through the second. It was the 42-year-old, six-time All-Star’s 187th career playoff game — second-most among active NHL players. He hasn’t played since being injured during the Lightning’s opening-round Game 7 victory over Toronto.
wftv.comVasilevskiy, Lightning beat Panthers 2-0 in Game 4 for sweep
Andrei Vasilevskiy had 49 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning completed a four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers with a 2-0 victory that sends the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions back to the Eastern Conference final for the sixth time in eight years.
Panthers face challenge of back-to-back on brink of sweep
It could be pop country artist Kane Brown's fault if their series ends less than a week before it started. An arena conflict in Tampa with Brown's concert forced Games 3 and 4 to be played back to back. It's been all Tampa Bay since, with Florida scoring a total of three goals through three games. Credit reigning playoff MVP goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and his Lightning teammates who are blocking shots, but for whatever reason the situation is dire for the Panthers. That streak ended with a loss to Tampa Bay, which is on the verge of reaching the Eastern Conference final for a fourth time in five seasons.
wftv.comStamkos, Kucherov lead Lightning past Panthers 5-1 in Game 3
Panthers Lightning Hockey Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) watches his shot get past Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for a goal during the second period in Game 3 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series Sunday, May 22, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Game 4 is Monday night at Amalie Arena, where the Lightning have won three of four games this postseason. Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s lone goal in Game 3, snapping a puzzling 0-for-25 start to the playoffs for the Panthers’ power play. Kucherov and Stamkos added empty-net goals in the final four minutes after the Panthers removed Bobrovsky in favor of an extra attacker. NOTES: With his 50th career playoff goal, Perry moved ahead of Brad Marchant and Patrick Bergeron into sole possession of sixth place among active career playoff goal leaders.
wftv.comComeback Cats do it again, rally to top Caps 5-3 in Game 5
T.J. Oshie scored twice for Washington, which also got a goal from Justin Schultz and two assists from Evgeny Kuznetsov. Bobrovsky slammed the door from there, Giroux scored the insurance goal at 15:55, and the Comeback Cats had done it again. This was the season of the comeback for Florida, which had an NHL-best 29 come-from-behind wins during the regular season. In a span of 7:51, Florida went from down three and in huge trouble to tied going into the third. That would be the Florida Panthers.
wftv.comNHL playoffs full of lopsided scores, lacking comebacks
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Alex Brandon)The NHL playoffs are missing the close games and comebacks that seemingly come annually with all the postseason intensity. “The score of the game doesn’t matter if it’s 2-1 triple-overtime or a little more lopsided,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. That is one game.”HURRICANES at BRUINS, Carolina leads series 2-1 (12:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN)Carolina and Boston are managing injury concerns. WILD at BLUES, Minnesota leads series 2-1 (4:30 p.m. EDT, TBS)The St. Louis Blues have taken another hit to their blue line. “We have to look at it 2-1,” Kings center Phillip Danault said.
wftv.comCapitals rally late, stun top-seeded Panthers 4-2 in Game 1
Claude Giroux and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, which has not won the opening game of a postseason series since 1997. The Panthers argued for an icing call that didn’t come on the play where the game got tied. Bennett tied the game late in the first, Giroux made it 2-1 in the second, but the Panthers were blanked the rest of the way. The penalty on Gudas at 0:49 of the first was the third-fastest opening penalty Florida had committed this season. Jonathan Huberdeau was called for roughing 20 seconds into a game on March 24, Gustav Forsling for hooking 25 seconds into a game on Nov. 27.
wftv.comPanthers find ways to rally again, top Blues 4-3 in shootout
The Florida Panthers were undeterred — again. Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in a shootout, and the Panthers continued their string of comebacks by rallying to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Saturday. Ville Husso made a career-best 48 saves for the Blues, who got goals from Brandon Saad, Logan Brown and Jake Walman. O'Reilly had two assists for St. Louis. UP NEXTThe teams play again in St. Louis on Tuesday.
wftv.comKillorn, Kucherov pace Lightning's 6-2 rout of Panthers
The Lightning scored on three of seven shots in the first period Saturday. The Panthers replaced Bobrovsky with Chris Driedger after Killorn scored on the power play and added another goal off a pass from Steven Stamkos to increase the lead to 5-1. He and Stamkos, who had two assists Saturday, have at least one point in each game of the series. ON THE BRINKThe Panthers will have to win three straight against the defending champs to end the franchise’s 25-year drought without a series win. On the other hand, the Panthers have never rallied to win a series after dropping the first two games.
wftv.comPoint scores 2 in 3rd to lift Lightning over Panthers 5-4
Nikita Kucherov scored two power-play goals in his first appearance of the season, and Blake Coleman scored a short-handed goal. Point tied it at 4 with seven minutes to go on his power-play goal and then got the winner when he skated in on a breakaway and backhanded the puck past Bobrovsky. The Lightning took a 1-0 lead on Coleman’s short-handed goal 16 seconds later. The Panthers tied it at 1 on Barkov’s power-play goal at 9:41, and Verhaeghe put them ahead with 3:29 left in the first. The second period ended with a fighting scrum in front of the Tampa Bay net.
wftv.comFlorida Panthers off to 2nd-best start in franchise history
Florida’s 6-1-2 start through nine games is the second-best in franchise history, topped only by the 6-0-3 record to open the 1996-97 season. “We've been consistent in most games," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. Starting poorly, however, has pretty much snuffed out some Panthers seasons before they even started. The five Florida teams that went to the playoffs — 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2011-12 and 2015-16 — averaged 12 standings points through the season’s first nine games. There’s obviously a long way to go, but the Panthers finally have the start they wanted.