Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Season Is Over For The Florida Panthers And Cup Run Continues For The Tampa Bay Lightning

05/24/2022 at 5:51am EDT

from George Richards of Florida Hockey Now,

The Florida Panthers waited until Monday night to bring their very best against the Lightning in their playoff series.

It still was not good enough.

Hard to imagine the Panthers playing any better than they did in Game 4 — only goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was unbeatable.

He was the difference on Monday — and in the series.

Now, the Panthers’ best season in their history is over.

Tampa Bay, despite getting outshot and outplayed by the Panthers throughout, got a goal from Pat Maroon in front of the net and that was enough to lift the Lightning to a 2-0 win and a four-game sweep of Florida.

“I thought it was the best game we played as a 60-minute game,” coach Andrew Brunette said.

“It looked like us and I’m not sure if our backs were that far against the wall, there was no pressure, but we played like we played all year tonight. That wasn’t always the case in the other nine games. We showed flashes of it, but the 60-minute game at that pace looked like us.”

continued

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

Even their best game couldn’t prevent the Florida Panthers’ worst nightmare, which speaks to how truly special are the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Nobody was more special Monday than Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 49 saves in a 2-0 shutout that swept the Panthers from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four games and propelled the Lightning to their third straight Eastern Conference final.

The two-time, defending Stanley Cup champions have won 10 consecutive playoff series, behind only the 40-year-old dynasties of the New York Islanders (19 straight series wins) and Montreal Canadiens (13).

“It's remarkable, it's mind-boggling, but as Pat Maroon says to me: 'Well, Coop, I've won 14,’” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Monday, referring to the Tampa forward who scored the series-winning goal. “But to think in the history of this game and the wonderful, glorious teams that have played in years past, that have made the tradition of this sport so wonderful, to sit here and think we're in the breath of the greatest teams that have played this game.

“Hopefully we're not done with that streak, but it's pretty cool tonight to sit back and marvel at it.”

continued

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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