Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz also scored for the Panthers, who will seek a sweep Saturday night in Tampa. Tkachuk had a first-period goal and added an empty-netter with 32 seconds left. “We’re playing some good hockey right now, and we’re happy with where we’re at right now in the series,” Tkachuk said. “The fourth (win) is the hardest, everyone says that, so we have to come out absolut ..read more

Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky might have had the save of the year. The Panthers‘ goaltender was facing the other way when Tampa Bay’s Matt Dumba had a chance at what looked like it would be an easy goal in Game 2 of the teams’ NHL playoff series on Tuesday night. Dumba had nothing but net to shoot at — and Bobrovsky, without his stick and diving blindly at a puck he couldn’t see — somehow made the save. How it all developed: Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli skated down the slot with the puck and wound up sending it off the end boards, the rebound getting controlled by Lightning captain Steven Stamkos ..read more

Carter Verhaeghe tapped in a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov for the lead 58 seconds into the third period, Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 1 of their NHL playoff series opener Sunday. Barkov had two assists, Sam Reinhart also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky had 17 saves for the Panthers, who won a Game 1 on home ice for the first time since 1997. Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos got the goals for Tampa Bay, which now trails Florida in a series for the first time. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops for the Lightning, w ..read more

Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart scored 10 seconds apart midway through the second period, and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night. With the victory and Boston’s 3-1 loss to Ottawa, Florida clinched the Atlantic Division title. The Panthers (52-24-6) finished with the season with a four-game win streak to make up a five-point deficit in the standings. “It’s been a crazy year,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “I feel like, throughout the whole year, us and Boston were in the driver’s seat leading the divison and it’s kind of gone back and forth the last few ..read more

Pavel Zacha scored the winning goal with 2:21 remaining in the game and the Boston Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Tuesday night. “It gives us confidence in three weeks when it starts for real,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said, referring to the playoffs. “We were down three times, we kept coming back. So we can believe in our process, believe in our identity and keep playing.” The Bruins also broke a tie with Florida atop the Atlantic Division and now hold a two-point lead although the Panthers have played one less game. Boston is also in second place in the Eastern Conference wit ..read more

Florida coach Paul Maurice just wanted to see his team play the kind of tough, physical hockey it has been playing all season. The three-goal comeback was really a bonus for the Eastern Conference-leading Panthers. Aleksander Barkov had two power-play goals and an assist, scoring the winning goal with 5:22 left, as Florida had a three-goal third period to beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Tuesday night. “We went through the first 30 minutes for sure, possibly two periods, we didn’t look the way we were supposed to look. It just wasn’t right, wasn’t hard enough,” Maurice said. “That’s all we needed ..read more

NHL teams combined to make 23 trades on Friday, dealing a total of 33 players and more than 20 draft picks, before the league’s deadline, with some teams and players seeming to win — and some seeming to lose. The defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, three-time defending Metropolitan Division-champion Carolina Hurricanes and league-leading Florida Panthers appear to have made the most of the opportunity. “Some of the teams at the top were very aggressive — and it looks like a real arms race,” Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. The San Jose Sharks, Red Wings an ..read more

Gustav Forsling came to the Florida Panthers four years ago simply looking for a chance. He earned a whole lot more. Forsling — the NHL’s leader in plus-minus this season by a wide margin — and the Panthers have agreed to an eight-year extension, the team announced Thursday. He was slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, with this season the last he had on a three-year, $8 million deal. “It sends a message that guys want to play here,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “And guys are willing to buy in.” Zito was emotional when he made the announcement about both Forsling and ..read more

The NHL-leading Florida Panthers landed forward Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators for a pair of draft picks, adding more wing depth before the playoffs start. The Panthers sent a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft to Ottawa as part of the deal, and the fourth-rounder would upgrade to a 2026 third-rounder if Florida wins the Stanley Cup this season. Ottawa also is getting a third-round pick from Florida in 2025, while the Senators are retaining half of Tarasenko’s salary. “Vladimir is a highly skilled and experienced scoring winger who provides our club with another dynamic offens ..read more

Sebastian Aho scored with 18.9 seconds left, helping Pyotr Kochetkov and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Florida Panthers 1-0 on Thursday night. Kochetkov stopped 44 shots in his third shutout of the season. Carolina has won four straight and six of its past seven games. Florida had won 11 straight road games, one short of tying the NHL record. It was a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Final, and it felt like a playoff game in February. Both playoff games in Raleigh in May went into extra time, including a four-overtime marathon in Game 1. “It felt really like we were almost right ba ..read more