And by the midway point, the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers had run away with Game 1. The Lightning allowed five goals on Florida’s first 11 shots, sucking the energy out of the building and losing the home-ice advantage Tampa Bay had worked for in an eventual 6-2 loss.

Matthew Tkachuk returned to the lineup and was back to his old self quickly for the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night

In the hours leading up to the titanic playoff matchup between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida coach Paul Maurice mentioned that the systems utilized by the two southern powers are “almost identical.