*Photo from West Hawaii Today*
Tampa Bay wins series 4-0
No matter how often he plays in the regular season, no matter what the team around him looks like, Andrei Vasilevskiy rises to the occasion in the playoffs. Pat Maroon scored, Vasilevskiy recorded a shutout, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers with a 2-0 victory on Monday night in Tampa Bay.
With the win, the Lightning have won their 6th straight game of the playoffs, securing a series sweep of their cross state rivals, the Panthers, winning the latest edition of the battle of Florida, and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, the first team to advance from the second round field.
By securing the series win, the Lightning have won 10 straight playoff series, becoming just the 3rd team to win at least 10 playoff series in a row. The Lightning join the New York Islanders from 1980-1984 with 19 straight series wins, and the Montreal Canadiens from 1975-1980 with 13 straight wins, as the only teams to win 10 or more playoff series in a row.
In net, Vasilevskiy got his 6th straight win, stymying the Panthers every chance he got. He posted a 49 save shutout, and it was his 6th shutout in a series clinching win in the playoffs, which is the most in NHL history. In short, he's been playing at his A+ game lately.
Vasilevskiy even tried to brush it off, saying that it's "Nothing special, really. I think the way the whole team plays in those games, the whole series, constant blocked shots, sacrifices, the boys clearly breaking bones to stop the puck. Such a great effort by everybody on our team. Obviously, it's not just me. I am just trying to do my job the best that I can."
The first two periods went scoreless, with Pat Maroon finally breaking the tie in the 3rd period. He scored his second goal of the playoffs on a shot that trickled through, giving the Lightning a 1-0 lead 6:16 into the 3rd period. Ondrej Palat then added an empty net goal with 23 seconds left in regulation to ice the win.
Maroon said of the 3rd period play that "We were in a good position going into the third period, a 0-0 game. We still had an opportunity to win, and we just had to find a way to squeak one by, and we did. Obviously it was an ugly goal, but that's playoff hockey for you."
While Vasilevskiy was superhuman on the other side, Sergei Bobrovsky had a fantastic game of his own. Unfortunately, he let in one goal, turning aside 24 out of the 25 shots on goal that he faced from the Lightning, recording a less than perfect .960 save percentage.
For the Panthers, their best season in team history comes to an abrupt end in the second round. They won the Presidents Trophy, battled past the Washington Capitals in 6 games in the first round, only to run into the buzzsaw known as the Lightning in round two. It was the first time they've been shut out in a game this season, and it was their final game.
Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad said that "Tonight, I thought we did a really good job of enforcing the game plan that we set out to for tonight. Obviously, it just wasn't enough. We got our chances. We just didn't capitalize on those scoring chances that are so dire. It's a tough pill to swallow. Getting swept is tough. It hurts. It stings. There's no doubt about it."
Up next, the Lightning get some rest and recovery ahead of the Eastern Conference Finals, where they await the winner of the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. The Panthers get an offseason at home, waiting for another shot next year.
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