SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov remembers the disappointment of years past.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had eliminated his Florida Panthers from the NHL playoffs in each of their previous three meetings, and if the Panthers wanted to cement themselves as one of the NHL’s best, this year’s result needed to be different.
“At some point you knew you were going to have them again,” Barkov said, “and you’ve got to be able to get over that hump, and we did it this year.”
Barkov and Carter Verhaege each had two goals and an assist to go along with 31 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, and the Panthers beat the Lightning 6-1 in Game 5 on Monday night to clinch their first-round series and advance in the NHL playoffs.
Niko Mikkola had a goal and an assist, Evan Rodrigues also scored and Matthew Tkachuk had two assists for the Panthers, who won a playoff series against Tampa Bay for the first time in franchise history and clinched a postseason series at home for only the fourth time. Florida bested Boston and Philadelphia on home ice in the first two rounds of the 1996 playoffs, then eliminated Carolina at home in last season’s Eastern Conference finals en route to their second Stanley Cup Final appearance.
What a blast to work at NASA. Space agency is sky
CERAWeek kicks off, focusing on global multidimensional energy transition
Massachusetts official warns AI systems subject to consumer protection, anti
Massachusetts official warns AI systems subject to consumer protection, anti
'The Apprentice,' about a young Donald Trump, premieres in Cannes
Reynaldo López pitches 6 scoreless innings, Braves beat Astros 6
Russia begins withdrawing peacekeeping forces from Karabakh, now under full Azerbaijan control
Ryan Garcia accuses Devin Haney of committing a 'hate crime' after he shoved troubled boxer
Pope trip to Luxembourg, Belgium confirmed for September, 2 weeks after challenging Asia visit
Pakistan targets right T20 combination against understrength New Zealand
Four people killed in a house explosion in southwestern Missouri
Biden is seeking higher tariffs on Chinese steel as he courts union voters