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Florida Panthers to open NHL playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at home

The Florida Panthers, looking to win a playoff round for the first time since 1996, will open their 2021 postseason journey on Sunday night at 7:30 against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning at the BB&T Center.

Florida will also host Game 2 of the series on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Tampa Bay will host Game 3 on Thursday May 20 at 6:30 p.m. and Game 4 at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday May 22.

Should the series be extended, the Panthers will host Game 5 on May 24 and Game 7 on May 28. Tampa Bay would host Game 6 on May 26.

This will be the first playoff meeting ever between the Panthers and the reigning Stanley Cup champion Lightning.

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“We’ve been waiting many years [to play Tampa Bay in the playoffs],” said Matt Caldwell, the Panthers CEO and president.

“Tampa is a great franchise, consistently in the playoffs. That is a franchise we’ve always tried to emulate. Now we’re ready to compete with them on and off the ice.”

Indeed, Tampa Bay has won the Stanley Cup twice — 2004 was its other championship year. In addition, the Lightning is expecting to get superstar forwards Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov back from injury in time for Sunday’s series opener.

The Panthers, meanwhile, have never won the Stanley Cup.

Could this be the year for the Panthers?

There’s a long way to go, but the Panthers enter the playoffs on a roll with a active six-game win streak.

The Panthers also have a championship coach — Joel Quenneville won the Cup three times with the Chicago Blackhawks and one of the top two-way forwards in the NHL in center Aleksander Barkov. They have a goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky who helped the Columbus Blue Jackets upset the top-seeded Lightning two years ago in a stunning four-game sweep. It was the first series win in Blue Jackets history.

In addition, the Panthers (37-14-5) got forward Carter Verhaeghe off the injured list on Monday after he had missed 13 straight games due to an upper-body issue. He has 18 goals and 18 assists in 43 games this year.

And, the Panthers won five of eight matchups against the Lightning this year. Florida won its final three regular-season matchups against Tampa Bay, outscoring the Lightning by a combined total of 14-4 during that stretch.

Add it all up, and the Panthers appear primed to make some noise in the playoffs.

“I can’t put into words how excited we are,” said Chris Driedger, Florida’s backup goalie.

Barkov finished the regular season with 26 goals, scoring eight times in his final 10 games, to lead the Panthers.

Jonathan Huberdeau led Florida in points (61) for the second year in a row. He also had a team-high 41 assists.

The Panthers are also deep, with eight players posting at least 10 goals.

“We should be excited with how the season went for us,” Quenneville said. “But the playoffs are what we play for.”

The second season starts Sunday.

THIS AND THAT

Caldwell said capacity will be increased to about 9,000 fans allowed inside the BB&T Center for the first round of the playoffs — just less than 50 percent capacity.

Caldwell also said TV ratings for the Panthers this season are the highest they have been in 17 years.