Panthers to play Lightning in 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

NHL.com— The Florida Panthers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Panthers (52-24-6), who will finish first in the Atlantic Division, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series. The Lightning (44-29-8) will finish as the first wild card from the East. The playoffs begin Saturday. Florida and Tampa Bay played three times in the regular season, with the Panthers winning the first two, 3-2 on Dec. 27 and 9-2 on Feb. 17. The...

Tampa Bay Times—Lightning to face Panthers in first round of Stanley Cup playoffs. TAMPA — For the third time in four seasons, the Lightning will face their cross-state rivals in the Stanley Cup playoffs.The next Sunshine State series will begin this weekend when the Lightning open the first round of the postseason against the Florida Panthers.The Panthers won the Atlantic Division on Tuesday night with their 5-2 home win over Toronto combined with Boston’s 3-1 home loss to the Senators. That earned Florida the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and a date with the...

NHL.com—Bruins to play Maple Leafs in 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Boston Bruins will play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins (47-20-15), who will finish second in the Atlantic Division, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series. The Maple Leafs (46-25-10) will finish third. The playoffs begin Saturday. Boston and Toronto played four times in the regular season, with the Bruins winning all four. The Bruins won 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 2, 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 2, 4-1 on March...

Miami Herald—Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1, Game 4: Tampa Bay Lightning 6, Florida Panthers 3. There will be no series sweep. The Florida Panthers couldn't recover from a three-goal first-period deficit and dropped Game 4 of their...