The Florida Panthers continued their early playoff dominance Thursday night, blanking the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. With the win, Florida takes a commanding 2-0 series lead, pushing their in-state rivals to the brink of desperation as the series shifts south to Sunrise for Game 3.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt stayed red-hot, scoring his third goal in two games to open the scoring just 4:15 into the contest. Schmidt, who notched a pair of goals in Game 1, capitalized off a clean faceoff win by Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. Sam Reinhart slid a quick pass across the ice to Schmidt, who ripped a one-timer from the right circle past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
“We came out with pace, and I just tried to put it on net,” Schmidt said postgame. “Great work by Barky and Reiny to set that up.”
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar between the pipes, turning away all 19 shots he faced to earn his fourth career playoff shutout — and his first since Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton. Bobrovsky was calm and composed throughout, with the Panthers limiting Tampa Bay’s high-danger chances and dominating the special teams battle.
The Lightning had chances early, including two golden opportunities in the opening minutes — Jake Guentzel missed the net alone at the post just 53 seconds in, and Brayden Point whiffed on a backhander in the slot at 1:52. Tampa Bay would rue those misses, especially after going 0-for-5 on the power play, managing just two shots on goal across those opportunities.
“We have to be better,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “Special teams are everything in the playoffs, and right now theirs is outperforming ours.”
Florida sealed the win with 4 seconds left, as Sam Bennett buried an empty-net goal to make it 2-0. However, the win came at a cost. Barkov exited midway through the third period after taking a high hit from Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who was assessed a five-minute major for interference. Barkov did not return, and head coach Paul Maurice had no update on his condition after the game.
Tampa Bay, the highest-scoring team in the regular season at 3.56 goals per game, has been stymied so far in the series. Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov has been quiet, posting just one assist and three shots through two games.
Game 3 is set for Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, where the Panthers will look to push the Lightning to the brink of elimination in front of a raucous home crowd.
“We’re just playing our game, keeping it tight, and everyone’s buying in,” Bobrovsky said. “But it’s a long series. Nothing’s done yet.”
