Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Panthers Blow Out Lightning 6-2 in Game 1

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Jack Pallotta | Last updated Apr 23, 2025 12:06 AM ET

The Tampa Bay Lightning got all banged up and blown out by the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Battle of Florida. In their fourth series meeting over the past five seasons, the Panthers took a commanding road win to gain the early series lead.

The Lightning lost Anthony Cirelli in this matchup and even Erik Cernak for a few shifts, which did not help in this massive loss.

Game Recap

The Panthers came out strong on the forecheck and gave the Lightning problems immediately in their end. Sam Bennett opened the scoring with a deflection out of mid-air in front. However, Nikita Kucherov drew a penalty, and Tampa Bay got to work on the power play. That’s when Jake Guentzel cradled a loose puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at one a-piece on the man advantage. In the final minute of the first period, Sam Reinhart deflected a point shot from Dmitri Kulikov to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

The second period saw Florida blow Tampa Bay out of the water. Nate Schmidt crashed the net following traffic to the net off a forced turnover by Florida and scored. The Lightning challenged the goal for goaltender interference but were unsuccessful and left shorthanded. Just 14 seconds into the power play, Matthew Tkachuk left Andrei Vasilevskiy’s jock strap in the rafters when he got the puck all alone in front to extend Florida’s lead to three goals. Tkachuk added another goal on the power play following an interference penalty by Emil Lilleberg. However, Brayden Point added a goal off a beautiful one-timer to make it a 5-2 game.

The third period wasn’t much better for Tampa Bay. Schmidt scored his second goal on the power play in the dying seconds of the man advantage to put the Panthers up 6-2. The Lightning failed to convert on a later power play that could’ve possibly cut the lead again.

Looking Ahead

The Lightning are potentially without their stalwart defensive center moving forward, and their depth looks extremely weak again on forward. While the Lightning outshot the Panthers, and the score doesn’t tell the full story, the penalty kill and discipline must improve to pull off a series win against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Expect head coach Jon Cooper to shake up the lines, given their performance and injuries.