Panthers Struggle to Break Through Tampa’s Defense—Could This Be the Turning Point?
Well, Saturday night at the Amerant Bank Arena was supposed to be another thrilling chapter in the fierce rivalry between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning — but instead, it turned into a tough pill for Florida to swallow. The Panthers, who’ve been buzzing with confidence lately, found themselves tangled in a gritty, physical battle that exposed some cracks in their usual offensive swagger. Unfortunately for the Cats, the Lightning’s relentless defense and strategic shot-blocking prevented many of those promising attempts from reaching the net. The scoreboard told a 3-1 tale, but the frustration ran deeper than just the numbers — this loss stings a bit more when it comes against a neighbor and nemesis like Tampa. There were flashes of that trademark Panthers resilience, especially on the penalty kill, but overall, it was an evening where the Cats looked outmaneuvered and outbattled. Let’s dive into the key takeaways from a night that left more questions than answers for Florida.
The Florida Panthers dropped a frustrating battle to their biggest rivals on Saturday night in Sunrise.
Florida struggled with their offense in a physical matchup, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 at Amerant Bank Arena.
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It was the first time in several games that the Panthers looked a bit out of sorts when compared to how they have generally been able to perform against their opponents.
In this case, the defeat stings just a little bit more because, you know, it’s Tampa.
Here are Saturday’s takeaways:
TROUBLE GETTING PUCKS ON NET
An area that we’ve seen the Panthers struggle from time to time is with getting shot attempts through to the net.
Some nights their opponents have been amazing at getting into the shooting lanes, other nights Florida just can’t seem to find the net with looks that get through.
Saturday felt like a steady mix.
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Between Tampa Bay blocking a couple dozen shots and Florida missing with several handfuls of others, it wasn’t nearly as difficult of a night for Andrei Vasilevsky as it could or should have been.
“They did a real good job blocking shots,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “I think we had 37 (shot attempts) that never got to the net. That’s a bit of a challenge.
FAILED TO WIN PUCK BATTLES
One of the ways Florida has become such a dominant force is in their physicality.
If you’re heading into the boards with a Panthers player in hopes of emerging with the puck, odds are the situation won’t go well for you.
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That’s the norm, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.
Credit to the Lightning, who know exactly what to expect out of their cross-state rival and were ready, willing and able to withstand what the Panthers threw at them.
“I didn’t like the number of pucks we came up with on contested pucks,” Maurice said. “That would be the place that we need to get better at.”
STRONG OUTING FROM PK UNIT
One area that Florida was excellent all-around on Saturday was their penalty kill.
This is nothing new, as the Cats’ PK has been humming along for the past several games.
Not since the first period in Los Angeles have the Panthers allowed a power play goal, a stretch that has now reached 13 consecutive penalty kills.
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“I liked our penalty kill, that was the highlight of the game. I thought we did a real good job with that,” Maurice said. “It’s no different than your power play; It’s all confidence based. We went through a run of having a tough stretch on our kill, and it’s been good for the last four or five games. Really aggressive, everybody moving together, getting sticks on pucks, winning face offs, some blocks, but some really good clears.”
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Photo caption: Apr 28, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) controls the puck against Tampa Bay Lightning center Gage Goncalves (93) during the third period in game four of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images)
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