The Florida Panthers are headed to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a career night from an unlikely source.
Eetu Luostarinen , a third-line forward who had one assist in the first four games of Florida's Eastern Conference First Round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning , had the biggest night of his NHL career in Game 5. The native of Finland had assists on goals by Anton Lundell , Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett before scoring a back-breaking goal at 13:02 of the third period that gave the defending Stanley Cup champs a 5-3 lead.
How unlikely was Luostarinen's big night? Consider that since coming to the NHL late in the 2019-20 season, he'd never had more than two points in any of his 374 regular-season games or 54 playoff games. The 26-year-old played 80 games this season and managed all of 24 points, his lowest output in five full NHL seasons, and managed more than one point just once – he had two assists against the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 29.
He also finished plus-4, the best single-game performance of his career.
Tampa Bay scored first for the first time in the series when Gage Gonsalves beat Sergei Bobrovsky 2:31 into the game. But Carter Verhaeghe tied the game by knocking a power-play rebound past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 5:21, and Luostarainen got his first assist on Lundell's goal at 10:21.
The Lightning spent the rest of the night chasing the game. They tied the game at 2-2 late in the first period on a goal by Nick Paul and 3-3 midway through the second period when Jake Guentzel scored a power-play goal. But Bennett's goal at 16:13 put the Panthers ahead to stay, and Luostarinen's goal drained the life out of the packed house at Amalie Arena, where the Lightning went 0-3 in this series after finishing 29-8-4 at home during the regular season.
Sam Reinhart 's empty-netter merely added insult to injury.
The five-game victory gives the defending Stanley Cup champs a break before they face the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators in round two. The Leafs won the first three games, but Ottawa has won the last two and hosts Game 6 on Thursday.
For the Lightning, it's a bitter ending to a season that saw them lead the NHL in goals during the regular season. Coach Jon Cooper told ESPN during the second period that, "these are the moments when the big boys have to show up." But with the exception of Guentzel (three goals and six points in the five games), it didn't happen. NHL scoring champ Nikita Kucherov had four assists but has failed to score a goal in 15 straight playoff games, and Vasilevskiy allowed 16 goals in five games.
Luostarinen was the game's First Star, and rightly so. But Brad Marchand was perhaps even more noticeable, earning the Second Star with two assists, including a perfect pass that Luostarinen dunked for the insurance goal.
Marchand, acquired by general manager Bill Zito from the Boston Bruins at the NHL Trade Deadline in March, seemed to be everywhere – breaking up Lightning plays, forcing turnovers, killing penalties and generally making a nuisance of himself, something he does better than almost anyone else in the NHL.
Vasilevskiy entered the series coming off his best regular season, one that was enough to earn him a Vezina Trophy finalist nod. But he was awful in Game 1, allowing six goals on 17 shots in a 6-2 defeat that set the tone for the series. He wasn't awful the rest of the way, but he wasn't as good as Bobrovsky, who allowed just 11 goals.
More important was that "Bob" did a better job of making the big saves when it mattered most. He made an early one-goal lead stand up in a 2-0 victory in Game 2 and did the same on Wednesday after the Panthers went ahead on Bennett's goal late in the second period. When the Panthers absolutely had to have a big save, Bobrovsky outplayed Vasilevskiy – a big reason Florida's bid to repeat as Stanley Cup winners is still alive.
Tampa Bay led the NHL in goals during the regular season, had the NHL's top scorer (Kucherov), a Vezina Trophy finalist (Vasilevskiy), two 40-goal scorers (Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point ) and a future Hall of Famer on defense ( Victor Hedman ). Despite all that, they're heading home after being beaten in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight season – and losing to their in-state rival for the second year in a row.
Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
All of those players are likely to be back in the fall, as is 30-goal scorer Brandon Hagel and veterans such as center Nick Paul and defenseman Ryan McDonagh . But there's not a lot of young talent in the pipeline; Isaac Howard, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey this season and is arguably their top prospect, has said he plans to return to Michigan State for his senior season.
More interesting is the rumors that Cooper, who has coached the Lightning since March 2013 and led the Bolts to the Cup in 2020 and 2021 and the Final in 2022, might be looking to move on. Cooper reportedly is signed through next season, but he's friends with Ryan Smyth, owner of the Utah Hockey Club , who might be looking for someone to take over the NHL's newest franchise.
