SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – The best regular season in Florida Panthers’ history came to a crushing end in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. For the second consecutive year, the Cats were eliminated by the Lightning in Tampa. Strides were made this season but being swept out of the playoffs stings. Offense Shutdown The Panthers had the best offense the NHL has seen in more than 25 years in the regular season. But against Tampa and their world-class goalie they were held to just three goals in four games, including being shut out for the first time this season. Between the Lightning blocki ..read more

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy had 49 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning completed a four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers with a 2-0 victory Monday night that sent the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions back to the Eastern Conference final for the sixth time in eight years. Pat Maroon snapped a scoreless tie, batting Zach Bogosian’s shot down behind Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky before the puck trickled into the net a little over six minutes into the third period. Ondrej Palat added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left. Vasilevskiy won his sixth straight game, a streak ..read more

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored two goals and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 to move to the brink of another trip to the Eastern Conference final on Sunday. Corey Perry and Erik Cernak also scored, and reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy had 34 saves to help the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Panthers, who had the NHL’s best record during the regular season. Game 4 is Monday night at Amalie Arena, where the Lightning have won three of four game ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds remaining, giving the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday night. The stunning finish put the Lightning up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series that heads to Tampa for Game 3 on Sunday. The game appeared headed for overtime before Colton scored from right in front of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky off a backhand pass from Nikita Kucherov, who chased down a loose puck behind the Florida net. Tampa Bay’s power play once again was the catalyst, producing ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy remained red-hot with 34 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning topped the Florida Panthers 4-1 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night. Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist, and Ross Colton also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who went ahead 1-0 against their in-state rivals for the second consecutive season. Time and again, Vasilevskiy slammed the door on Florida. Over his last three games — all of them win ..read more

SUNRISE (AP) — The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions on one side. The Presidents’ Trophy winners on the other. Franchises separated by just a couple hundred miles of highway. And two teams that don’t like each other very much. Tampa Bay and Florida. For the state championship — and so much more. The Lightning and the Panthers are meeting in the playoffs for the second consecutive season, with Game 1 starting Tuesday on Florida’s home ice. Tampa Bay needed six games to oust the Panthers a year ago in Round 1. “Florida is a hell of a team,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve watched ..read more

SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – For the second consecutive year, the Panthers play Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Like last year, the Lightning are the defending champs. The Panthers gave them all they could handle in an exciting, physical six-game first round series. This time around the Cats are positioned better to dethrone the champions. Here’s why: Playoff Experience The Panthers didn’t have much going into last year’s series. Learning from Tampa what it takes to win in the playoffs was an eye opener. Add in this year’s first round series against Washington and the valuable, necessary experi ..read more

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – On the wrong side of a comeback effort this time, the Florida Panthers rebounded in overtime and made sure they wouldn’t need to go home to finish their first-round series. Carter Verhaeghe scored the OT winner to send the Panthers to the second round by beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 in Game 6 Friday night. It’s the franchise’s first playoff series victory since 1996 when Florida reached the Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers are still eight wins from getting back to the final, but they will have home-ice advantage for their next series against either the cross-state r ..read more

SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – The Panthers are in position to win their first playoff series in 26 years. Living up to their nickname the “Comeback Cats,” they pulled off a wild game 5 win, 5-3, before more than 20,000 fans at FLA Live Arena to take the series lead against Washington. Game 6 is in the nation’s capital Friday night. The Panthers would host game 7 Sunday, if necessary. Another Comeback The Panthers trailed 3-0 24 minutes into the game. As they have done five times this season, they erased that deficit, scoring the next five goals over the next 28 minutes. The six comebacks from at least ..read more

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe set a Florida postseason record with a five-point night, and the Florida Panthers escaped a three-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 and take a 3-2 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series Wednesday night. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots for Florida, which trailed 3-0 in the second period. Verhaeghe had two goals and three assists for the Panthers. Patric Hornqvist, Claude Giroux and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had two assists. T.J. Oshie scored twice for Washington, which also got a goal from Ju ..read more