Series Coverage

Here are the results from the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

TAMPA -- Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning said he broke his right foot in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round series against the Florida Panthers. Hedman, who was wearing a boot on his foot Friday, said the injury happened in the first period of the 4-2

The Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Floria Panthers, losing 6-3 loss in Game 5 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round on Wednesday. The Lightning also lost to the Panthers in five games in the first round of the playoffs last year. The

TAMPA -- It was easy to have doubts about this Florida Panthers team. They had played so much hockey. They had wilted down the stretch. They had been without Matthew Tkachuk for two-plus months. They were up against an onrushing train in the form of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They

TAMPA -- Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists, and the Florida Panthers eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-3 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers can advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360). The Panthers stunned the Lightning in Game 4 with two late goals.

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday. This week zeroes in on the Eastern Conference First Round between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers while recalling the birth of each

TAMPA -- Brandon Hagel will not play for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Wednesday because of an injury. The forward took an elbow to the head from Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad at 11:20 of the second period

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The toughest game to win in a Stanley Cup Playoff series may not necessarily be a Game 7, but the one that will close things out. With a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference First Round, the Florida Panthers have a chance to advance in

NEW YORK – Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel during Game 4 of the teams’ First Round series in Florida on Monday, April 28, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today. The incident occurred

Aaron Ekblad was suspended two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday. His suspension began for the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday, a 6-3 win that advanced the Panthers to the

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Derek Stepan had seen Ryan McDonagh play in high school, and played against him, with his Shattuck-St. Mary's team facing McDonagh's Cretin-Derham Hall squad. But it wasn't until early into Stepan's freshman season at the University of Wisconsin, McDonagh's sophomore year, when the forward got a sense

NEW YORK -- Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons during Game 4 of the teams’ First Round series in Florida on Monday, April 28, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player

Aaron Ekblad will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday. The Florida Panthers defenseman is facing discipline for elbowing against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel on Monday. The incident occurred at 11:20 of the second period in the Panthers' 4-2 win in Game 4

SUNRISE, Fla. -- They weren’t thinking about what might be, there on the bench. They weren’t considering the idea of the flight back to Tampa with the series tied and the regret and the doubts creeping in. They couldn’t. “You’re in the moment,” Brad Marchand said of the third period

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning were four minutes away from heading back home with a tied series in the Eastern Conference First Round. Instead, the Florida Panthers took control of the game, and perhaps the series in the process. Aaron Ekblad tied it 2-2 with 3:47 remaining in

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored 11 seconds apart late in the third period, and the Florida Panthers rallied for a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Now it's a series. After the Florida Panthers took the first two games on the road in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Lightning came roaring back with a convincing 5-1 win in Game 3 to get themselves on the board. It

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- In the video, Brandon Hagel stands as the first person to greet his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates as they leave the ice, embracing each one in turn, punctuating it with a “Let’s go!” as they file by him and into the locker room. The fact that

SUNRISE, Fla. -- There was a kind of stunned feeling after Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round series between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, a confusion born of the performance of the Lightning over the first two games. They were a team that had become

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aaron Ekblad is already prepared to put his first NHL game in seven weeks behind him. The Florida Panthers defenseman returned Saturday after serving a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Ekblad finished minus-4 in 20:20 of ice time in

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Aleksander Barkov is in the Florida Panthers lineup against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS). Barkov, Florida's captain, left the Panthers' 2-0 win

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The last time the Florida Panthers took the ice for a postseason game at Amerant Bank Arena, it ended with them winning their first Stanley Cup championship. It was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season, with the Edmonton Oilers having forced the Panthers to

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning have already lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers. Now, they will have to play Game 3 without one of their top forwards. Brandon Hagel was suspended one game by the NHL Department of Player Safety