The Panthers were ferocious attacking Lightning Sunday. This is what Florida needs to do

The Florida Panthers have a lot to learn — that’s according to their own coach — and a short amount of time to cram for their next huge test.

That’s the upshot of Sunday night’s thrilling 5-4 win by the Tampa Bay Lightning against the host Panthers in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series at the BB&T Center. The teams will meet in the same arena Tuesday night for Game 2 before the scene shifts to Tampa Bay.

The Panthers put up a ferocious fight Sunday in a game that featured four lead changes. In the vast history of the NHL playoffs, only three other games have ever featured that many lead changes.

Brayden Point scored the tying goal with 7:00 left in the third period and the game-winner with just 74 seconds left to lift Tampa Bay, and it really came as no surprise, given the history of these two franchises.

The Lightning drank from the Stanley Cup for a second time just last year while the Panthers haven tasted true playoff success in decades.

The Panthers haven’t won a playoff round since 1996, haven’t led a series 1-0 since 1997, and, of course, they have never won the cherished Stanley Cup.

“There’s a lot of frustration,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said after Sunday’s loss during which Florida blew 2-1 and 4-3 leads, “thinking you deserve better.

“But that’s the difference between teams that know how to win … and we’re looking to get educated.”

To be fair, the Panthers were unlucky Sunday.

They had a Sam Bennett goal taken off the board in the first period because of goalie interference — a controversial ruling in the eyes of the Panthers.

The Panthers suffered misfortune again in the second when defenseman Gustav Forsling broke his stick, which led directly to a Lightning goal he was powerless to block.

In addition, the Panthers could’ve used some better timing on injuries. Instead, three Lightning stars — Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos — healed just in time to play the Panthers, and they combined for two goals and six assists against the Panthers.

Sunday marked Kucherov’s first game of the season following hip surgery in December, and the 2019 NHL MVP responded with two goals.

“When you have a player of his caliber, good things happen,” said Stamkos, who had missed the past 16 games. “He’s that good.”

Hedman, who will likely require offseason surgery for an unspecified injury he has been reportedly been dealing with since March, had a game-high three assists.

That trio made a huge difference as Tampa Bay went 3-for-4 on its power play.

“When you have those threats [Kucherov and Stamkos] on each side, you just have to move the puck,” Hedman said. “The way we moved the puck in practice, I was very confident.”

Tampa Bay also scored a shorthanded goal on Sunday, totally dominating special teams.

Then again, the Panthers can take some confidence going forward, knowing they outscored the Lightning 3-1 while the teams were skating five on five.

Quenneville said the Panthers on Tuesday will have to be sharper to stop players such as Point, who has 14 goals in 23 playoff games dating to last year; and Kucherov, who has 38 postseason goals since entering the league in 2013, tying him with Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin for the most in the league during that span.

“Every shift is so critical against that team,” Quennville said of the Lightning, “because they make something out of nothing.”

That’s not to minimize, however, the effort of the Panthers, who were tenacious with a 54-36 edge in hits in what was an extremely physical game, loaded with skirmishes.

Playoff hockey can often be boiled down to who has the hot goaltender. But the teams’ two Russian goalies — Andre Vasilevskiy for the Lightning and Sergei Bobrovsky for the Panthers — played fairly evenly.

Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2019 as the NHL’s top goalie and led Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup last year, made 35 saves. Bobrovsky, who won the Vezina in 2013, also made 35 saves, but he was just three of six against the Lightning power play.

Bobrovsky would’ve loved to make at least one more save, and, most crucially, he failed to make the stop on Point’s game-winner with 1:14 left in the third. On that play, Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh — the former New York Rangers star — made a huge block of a MacKenzie Weegar slapshot, and that ignited Point on his breakaway. From there, Point slipped the puck past Bobrovsky with a backhander.

“Unbelievable play by [McDonagh] — huge block and a heads-up pass,” Stamkos said. “And Point on a breakaway in the playoffs has been pretty money.”

Another lesson learned for the young Panthers.