The Florida Panthers have a little bit of experience dealing with the situation they currently find themselves.
Over the past three postseasons, all three of which Florida has reached at least the conference finals, the Panthers have held a 3-0 series lead five times.
The first time, against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023, Florida lost Game 4 at home before closing out the Leafs two nights later.
It happened again the very next round, against the same Carolina Hurricanes Florida is currently facing.
Back then, the Panthers were able to complete the sweep thanks to a last-second goal by Matthew Tkachuk in Game 4.
In the first round of last year’s postseason, Florida took a 3-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning, lost Game 4 in Tampa and then closed out the Bolts on home ice in Game 5.
Then, of course, there was the Stanley Cup Final, where the Panthers famously (or infamously, I suppose) won the first three games against the Edmonton Oilers only to lose each of the nex three, setting up an incredible Game 7 that Florida won 2-1 to claim the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
How it plays out this time remains to be seen, a status that several regulars in Florida’s lineup also share.
Sam Reinhart left Game 2 early, and Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer left Game 3 early, so the availability for each on Monday night wouldn’t be decided until earlier in the day, according to Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 4 against Carolina:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Jesper Boqvist
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Uvis Balinskis, Sam Reinhart, Nico Sturm, Jaycob Megna
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Photo caption: May 24, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Jesper Boqvist (70) celebrates with teammates after a goal during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes in game three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
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