The State of Florida made a statement with the opening round series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. While the North division series were delivering a mediocre product, and certain other US-based series were lacking a competitive edge, the Bolts and Cats showcased the definition of playoff hockey. There was speed, there was skill, there was tenacity, and there was ferociousness; an already-hot rivalry was notched up by at least a few degrees, and it made for a tremendously entertaining product.

As frustrating as some of the dirty play was at times, the Lightning and Panthers largely brought out the best in each other in this series. Florida was the better team for vast stretches of the series, but simply didn’t get the goaltending they needed to win the early games. Tampa, on the other hand, looked like a true championship team when they needed to shut the door in the final game. Prior to the postseason kicking off, dedicated and casual observers alike often remarked that this was the series to watch; it lived up to the hype on every front.

The question for the Lightning now is how they respond after such a hard-fought battle against their interstate foe. The physical play likely left some long-lasting wounds. With the Carolina Hurricanes up next, the Bolts will need to use these days off to reset both physically and emotionally after such a draining experience against the Panthers. Recency bias is obviously playing a role in my assessment, but I don’t recall any of the four bubble series last year packing this kind of a punch. That’s a testament to the Panthers.

While many were hoping to see the Nashville Predators in the second round, given that they were the weaker of the two options, I’m not particularly upset with the way things landed. Even though Lightning earned a winning record against the Predators during the regular season, and bested them by 11 points in the standings, the odds of a Lightning / Predators series continuing the trend of grueling physical play seem a lot higher than the odds of a Lightning / Hurricanes series doing that.

Granted, it’s true that the Hurricanes were the Central Division winners for a reason; they play an overwhelmingly strong puck possession game, and often carve opponents up through the neutral zone and in the offensive zone like it’s nothing. But, the x-factor here is that aforementioned physical play. Carolina is a lot of things, but they don’t tend to play that same physical, on-the-edge style. That might give the Bolts a chance to play their game with a little more frequency than we saw in the Florida series. The bottom line here is that we are looking at a series with two high-skill teams that know how to win. Whatever happens, it's almost sure to be worth watching.

As always, thanks for reading.

Join the Discussion: » 18 Comments » Post New Comment

» Steven Stamkos and the Olympics

» Steven Stamkos is Showing Hart

» Victor Hedman is Back

» Lightning, Predators Release Stadium Series Jerseys

» With Nothing Left to Prove, Lightning are Proving Something