Sure, just as everyone said before the playoffs began, this is one great, in-state hockey rivalry.
In South Florida.
In Tampa, they’re booing now. In St. Pete, they’re livid. On west coast of Florida, they can’t believe their big weapon, Nikola Kucherov, hasn’t scored or how their top-rated power play was harmless in four chances Thursday in the Panthers’ 5-3 win in Game 3.
It’s 3-0 in the series now, meaning the remnants of Tampa Bay’s proud Stanley Cup dynasty is being ground to dust like the Ming Dynasty by the Florida Panthers.
“I thought the big story would be the penalty-killing,’’ Panthers coach Paul Maurice said about Game 3.
This series’ big story is bigger. It’s better. It’s Panth-ier. The story is that Vegas’s co-favorites to win it all have entered the playoffs in just the manner you’d want a team with championship aspirations to do.
They’ve come out and taken the lead every game. Their goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, hasn’t been asked to do too much but has made big moments when asked. Their specialty teams like, yes, the penalty kill, have flexed their muscle.
The Panthers’ big guns have come out gunning in these opening games, too. Sam Reinhart scored his second goal of the series on Thursday minutes after Tampa Bay had its first lead of the series, 2-1. Brandon Montour then made it 3-2 from just inside the blue line.
This series has been so one-sided that Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk has been able to hone his shooting at empty nets. He got his second such goal to end Game 3. Can someone call Elias for the record on empty-net goals in a series sweep?
“The depth of this lineup is a joke, right?” said Steven Lorentz after the game on Bally Sports.
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Lorentz scoring on the fourth line. That’s who.
No joking, these Panthers made a run to the Stanley Cup Final last spring and are better this spring. That doesn’t mean they make it back. It just means it’s going to take a special team or hot goalie to knock them off and Tampa Bay isn’t it.
The most impressive stretch for the Panthers of this series was the third period Thursday when they entered with a goal lead and Tampa Bay knew its season was effectively on the line.
The Panthers gave up seven shots in that period to the league’s fifth-ranked offense. Seven. Sure, Tampa Bay scored with five minutes left to cut it 4-3, but the Panthers weren’t releasing their vise grip on this series.
Tampa Bay’s big offense has taken 19, 23 and 29 shots this series. That’s nothing.
“We’re in a position right now that we would have dreamed about at the beginning of the series,” Tkachuk said. “We’re in a great position. To stand here now and say we’re up 3-0, I’ll gladly take it.
“But there have been stretches where they’ve played really, really well. think it’s been a close series so far in the first three games.”
That’s just the defense-first, grind-like-a-banshee style of this team.
“We never dominate games that’s not really who we are,’’ Maurice said. “Most of are games we are in the grinder. That’s how our games are played. And battled.”
Some things beyond taking too many penalties Thursday will have to be cleared up as the playoffs run. They’re not all hockey-centric, either. Montour, for instance, wore an odd T-shirt after the game that seemed to be decorated with pictures of veteran teammate Nick Cousins.
Quirky? Well, this team has the quirk gene in it.
More than that, it has a playoff gene. A contending gene. It can close out this series Saturday in Tampa Bay with a win. Tampa Bay has won enough series through the years to know the trouble it’s facing.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said, “You want the believers to show up to the rink (Friday). And if you’re not going to believe, then you don’t have to come. We’ll see how many guys show up.”
That’s what the Panthers have done to a former champion. This big state rivalry only feels big in one part of the state.
