“Florida” in the first round, not without difficulty, passed “Washington”, which was considered an unconditional outsider in this pair. But even a tough series with the Caps did not make the Panthers easy prey for Tampa. On the contrary, all the fans were waiting for a serious confrontation between the current owner of the Stanley Cup and the winner of the regular season.

However, in practice, the Lightning showed that the regular season is just a long preparation for a real tournament, in which the Lightning are more successful. The team of Nikita Kucherov is calmly and calmly cracking down on Florida, it seems that Tampa has no competitors in the current Stanley Cup draw.

In many ways, the success of the Lightnings depends on Kucherov, who has become a nightmare for all NHL goaltenders. So in the third match of the confrontation, the Russian single-handedly destroyed Florida, scoring four points and breaking the record of Alexander Ovechkin himself.

Tampa wins in class

Everything seems trite and simple – Tampa has more experience of successful performance in the playoffs than Florida. The Stanley Cup victories in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons speak for themselves. The status of the current champion helps not only to go on the ice with confidence, but also psychologically puts pressure on rivals.

Florida, on the other hand, looks like a different team in elimination games than in the regular season. This is especially evident in the implementation of the majority in the playoffs – before the third match with Tampa, the Panthers had 25 attempts and not a single abandoned puck. The team that claims the cup should not play in unequal lineups.

Photo: © REUTERS / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Lightning shows a championship game in every match. Hockey players “Tampa” establish a comfortable advantage, and then play at a pace convenient for themselves and keep the score. Andrei Vasilevsky also helps with this, and becomes a problem for any opponent. The Russian is now the best goalkeeper of the current playoffs and has a 91.5% saved shots.

Kucherov destroyed “Florida”

Even the 2-0 score in the series did not calm the Tampa hockey players and the third match, they started very cheerfully. Already in the middle of the first period, the Lightning organized a goal – Ryan McDona after Kucherov’s pass from the blue line powerfully threw towards the goal, and veteran Corey Perry corrected the puck on target.

After this goal, a real miracle happened – Florida at the end of the period interrupted a series of 25 unrealized attempts. At the same time, the Panthers acted exemplarily when playing too much, breaking the defense of Tampa with short passes. And Sam Reinhart completed a beautiful attack.

But before the Panthers had time to think that they could turn the tide of the match and soak the series, as at the start of the second period, Eric Chernak sent the puck into the far top corner and again brought Tampa forward. At the same time, Sergei Bobrovsky saw the moment of the throw, but it is unlikely that any of the Florida fans will blame the Russian – Bobrovsky had a lot of work in the match, which he coped with.

Vasilevsky also had something to do, because the Panthers were trying with all their might to return to the game. But the goalkeeper of the “lightning” made life easier for teammates, who took on most of the throws. This was especially demonstrated by McDonagh, who pulled out his stick at the last moment and did not allow the Florida player to throw into an empty net.

And already in the next attack, Kucherov entered the zone along the flank and made a perfect cross pass to Steven Stamkos, who completed the attack with one touch. After Tampa, she began to play her usual hockey – she kept the score, preventing the opponent from doing anything in the attack.

Photo: © REUTERS / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Lightnings fought off Florida attacks time after time until the Panthers’ coaching staff decided to trade Bobrovsky for a sixth fielder. Then “Tampa” successfully caught the opponent on a mistake and from the transfer of Nick Paul Kucherov threw into an empty net, burying all the hopes of even the most desperate Florida fans.

The Panthers, already with an eye on the next match, again removed the goalkeeper, because to win back three goals in two minutes from Tampa is a task on the verge of fantasy. But it didn’t even work to close the gap, but on the contrary, they gave the Lightning hockey players a reason to rejoice once again – Stamkos from Kucherov’s pass scored the fifth goal into the Panthers’ goal.

As a result, “Tampa” confidently defeated “Florida” – 5: 1, and took the lead in the “3-0” series. Kucherov scored four (3+1) points in the match. Now Nikita has 142 (48 + 94) points in the Stanley Cup, one more than Alexander Ovechkin (141 points). And among the Russians, according to this indicator, he took the 37th line.

As for Florida, it is not yet clear how the Panthers can turn the tide of the series or at least take the fourth match. Especially if Kucherov continues to nightmare Bobrovsky in the same spirit.