The Florida Panthers turned in their first postseason loss in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs in a matinee game today against the Tampa Bay Lightning as familiar faces drew back into the lineup. After serving a 20-game suspension for failing a PED test, Aaron Ekblad returned to the Panthers’ lineup today. Aleksander Barkov also made his return after being the victim of a dirty hit in Game 2 courtesy of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel. Hagel served a one-game suspension during this game for his actions in Game 2. Game Recap The Panthers’ first solid chance of the first period came from none other than Ekblad with a one-timer in between the faceoff circles. Andrei Vasilevskiy deftly handled it, but Matthew Tkachuk stymied him moments later and opened up the scoring for the Panthers on their third shot of the game with a cross-crease pass from Sam Bennett. Tampa Bay seemed to be gearing up to challenge the goal for offside, but declined to do so. This marked Tkachuk’s 20th playoff goal as a Panther. Tkachuk is just the third player in franchise history to do so, joining Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart at the benchmark. The Lightning headed to the power play about halfway through the first frame, but the Panthers’ penalty kill units stood tall, refusing to allow the opposition a single shot on goal. Brayden Point tied the game up for the Lightning with 2:45 left in the period, ending Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-period run of keeping the Lightning out of the back of the net. Nikita Kucherov went to the box for roughing Bennett, sending the Panthers to the power play for the first time in this contest. The first period expired with the game tied at one with 44 seconds left on the Panthers’ power play. Jake Guentzel of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates after scoring a goal during the third period against the Florida Panthers in Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) The Panthers started the second period with 44 seconds of power play time, but failed to convert. Much of the first half of the second period was dominated by back-and-forth hockey. Ekblad was cross-checked in the back long after the whistle by Anthony Cirelli with roughly 12 minutes remaining in the second period, sending the Panthers to the power play for the second time. The Panthers turned up empty-handed yet again as the second period continued to devolve into a snooze-fest with every passing second. Not to be outdone, Mackie Samoskevich headed to the box with around nine minutes remaining in the period after tripping Kucherov, sending the Lightning to the power play this time. The Lightning were also unsuccessful in converting with the man advantage, because that would have been far too exciting. Instead, Nick Paul scored minutes after the power play ended to bring the scoreline to 2-1 in favor of the Lightning. After a post-whistle scrum behind Vasilevskiy’s net, the Panthers would find themselves yet again on the penalty kill as two coincidental minors alongside a roughing call on Tkachuk were called. The second period ended with the scoreline still at 2-1; Anthony Cirelli was assessed a roughing penalty after the whistle, giving us a bit of 4v4 hockey to start the third period. Related: The Florida Panthers and the History of the Rats 21 seconds into the third period, the Lightning pulled ahead 3-1 with a netfront effort by Guentzel during 4v4 hockey. The Panthers failed to convert on the subsequent power play from Cirelli’s penalty in the previous frame as Eetu Luostarinen was called for tripping, bringing us back to 4v4 hockey for four seconds. On the subsequent power play, the Lightning failed to convert as the Panthers again stood tall on the penalty kill. Paul was called for holding with roughly 14 minutes remaining in the game, bringing the Panthers back to the power play yet again. Despite several solid chances courtesy of Barkov and Seth Jones, the Panthers’ power play remained scoreless. With around six minutes left in the game, the Lightning scored yet again with a 2-on-1 chance between Yanni Gourde and Luke Glendening that Bobrovsky had no chance of stopping. Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky for the extra skater shortly after, and the Lightning would score their fifth goal of the game on the empty net almost immediately thereafter. In the play immediately prior to the empty net goal, Tkachuk laid Guentzel out a bit late and was assessed a five-minute major for interference as a result, giving the Lightning a man advantage for the remainder of the game. The Panthers held them off the scoresheet for the remainder of the game. The final score was 5-1; shot totals were 34-22 in favor of the Panthers.