FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
MAY 16, 2021
BB&T Center – Sunrise, Fla.
| FLORIDA PANTHERS | TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING |
| 4 | 5 |
- Aleksander Barkov scored Florida’s first goal of the playoffs on the power play and added an assist (1-1-2), his first career multi-point playoff game.
- The goal was Barkov’s his fourth career playoff goal and his second career tally on the power play.
- Barkov also scored FLA’s last playoff goal on BB&T Center ice on April 22, 2016 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. NYI.
- Barkov has recorded at least a point in each of his past five postseason games (2-4-6).
- Jonathan Huberdeau recorded three points (1-2-3) for his first career multi-point playoff game. Huberdeau is the eighth Panther in franchise history to record at least three points in a playoff game.
- Huberdeau has recorded points in four of his past five postseason games (2-4-6).
- Owen Tippett recorded two points (1-1-2), becoming the first Panthers rookie to record multiple points in their first career playoff game in franchise history.
- Tippett is the third Panthers rookie to register a multi-point game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, after Ed Jovanovski (May 9, 1996 vs. PHI) and Radek Dvorak (May 24, 1996 vs. PIT).
- Tippett is also the first Panthers rookie to score a goal in a playoff game since David Nemirovsky (April 23, 1997 at NYR).
- Sam Bennett notched two assists, his fourth career multi-point playoff game and his second career multi-assist playoff game. He has now recorded three assists over his past three postseason games.
- Bennett also registered three hits and led FLA with three blocked shots (tied with Brandon Montour).
- Keith Yandle notched two assists, his ninth career multi-point playoff game. He is the third Panthers defenseman in club history to record multiple multi-assist playoff games. With his second helper Yandle reached 30 career playoff assists.
- Radko Gudas logged 11 hits, surpassing Mike Weaver’s 10 hits on April 26, 2012 vs. NJD for most by a Panther in a playoff game since the NHL began tracking hits. Gudas posted 11 hits twice during the regular season.
- Carter Verhaeghe scored his first career playoff goal.
- Florida’s 56 hits are their second-most in a playoff game since the NHL began tracking hits in 2005-06.
- Five different Panthers recorded multiple points (Barkov, Bennett, Huberdeau, Tippett, Yandle).
PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES – MAY 16, 2021
Head Coach Joel Quenneville
“Every shift is so critical against that team because they can make something out of nothing. There’s things we can take out of that game and learn from and improve. It was a heck of a hockey game.”
“The crowd noise was really high, like we haven’t seen in a long time.”
Forward Aleksander Barkov
“We’ve [moved on] already. I know it sucks, but it happened. Now we’ve got to concentrate on next game. We had some good momentum in the game, but have got to learn how to defend a little better. Other than that, I liked our effort.”
“(The crowd) was unbelievable. I got goosebumps before the game, during the anthem. It was so nice, you want this to happen every game and we’re going to do our best on the ice. Lot of support from our fans, we love that and appreciate that. We want to keep playing and having fun.”
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky
“We faced a good, skilled team up front. They’ve got the weapons there. But I thought for most of the time the guys did a great job, five on five we did a great job. It’s a long series, we just have to put that behind and be fresh for the next one, it’s zero-zero next game.”
Forward Owen Tippett
“It felt good (to score a goal)…I’m just going to do whatever I can to help the team win and Huby [forward Jonathan Huberdeau] made a great pass.”
“Throughout the playoffs you go through adversity game in and game out, every shift is important. It’s going to happen, that’s playoffs. It’s going to go up and down all game long. Just got to stick with it and take it one shift at a time.”
