The day has finally come…Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs is here!
The Battle of Florida has gotten a later start than the rest of the Round 1 series currently going on. I’m not sure why that is, but everyone else has played at least one game, with some teams playing their second games last night.
Oh well, all that matters is that we finally get to see a healthy/full-rostered Florida team begin their quest to defend the Cup tonight when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning…and hopefully worth the wait.
Hard to believe, but this will be the fourth time in five years that these two Atlantic Division clubs will clash in the postseason.
Why listen to me, when
Litter Box Cats has a great summary of what has led up to the Game 1 action tonight:
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A late season swoon dropped the roster-ravaged Panthers from first to third place in the Atlantic Division to set up yet another Sunshine State showdown. Despite the fall, the Cats still managed to post the fourth-highest points total in franchise history on the strength of strong individual performances from Sam Reinhart, who led the team in scoring for a second-straight season, Sergei Bobrovsky (33 wins), Aleksander Barkov (71 points in 67 games) and Anton Lundell, who established a new career-high with 45 points. The Cats split the season series with the Bolts, with each team winning once at home and once on the road. Florida will be missing suspended defenseman Aaron Ekblad for the first two games of the series, while Matthew Tkachuk’s status will be determined by the morning skate.
The Lightning enter the postseason on a hot streak. They went 7-2-3 down the stretch to hit the 100-point mark for the first time since the 2021-22 season. This is the eighth-straight time that Tampa Bay has made the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov led the league in scoring again with 121 points, and ended up tied with Nathan MacKinnon with an NHL-best 84 assists. Brayden Point (42) and newcomer Jake Guentzel (41) breached the 40-goal plateau. That duo leads a group of six Bolts who scored 22 or more goals. The Lightning boast the league’s fifth-ranked power play (25.9%), so the Panthers will need to stay out of the penalty box to better their chances of winning what should be a tight series.”
I can’t wait to get out of work, fire up dinner, grab a cold one and settle in for this game!
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Go Panthers!
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
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