How Were the Lightning Able to Sweep the Presidents' Trophy Winning Panthers?

The Panthers had their best season ever in 2021-22. They secured the Presidents' Trophy for most points, set the NHL record for goals scored in a season, and set another record for most comeback wins when trailing three or more goals. They played fast, they played hard, and they were never out of a game. Three times this season they came back from four-goal, third period deficits. The 83-84 Oilers are the only other team to do it twice. They played some of their worst hockey against Washington in the first round of this year's playoffs & won in 6 games. So how were the Tampa Bay Lightning able to sweep the Presidents' Trophy, record-setting Cardiac Cats?

To say 'they wanted it more' would be oversimplifying it though not by much. But tactically, what adjustments did Jon Cooper & his staff to stifle the Panthers loaded offense? Simply put: they shut down the middle of the ice, blocked a ton of shots, & got stellar goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy. This chart visualizes the Panthers' offensive micro-stats, courtesy of JFresh Hockey:

The Panthers were able to generate a ton of shots against the Lighting, but they took low quality chances in excess & failed to capitalize on high danger ones. Their OZ possession was kept mostly on the perimeter. The Lightning defensemen clogged up passing lanes with great success; the Panthers saw nearly a 40% decrease in shots off high-danger passes. And when the Panthers did manage those shots on Vasilevskiy, there was almost no rebounding on the part of the Panthers, who saw nearly a 50% decrease in rebound/deflections compared to their regular season averages. Tampa Bay put on a defensive zone clinic while capitalizing on their chances the other way.

Another area the Panthers were unable to capitalize was off the rush. Per TopDownHockey, Florida averaged 9.7 entry chances/60 minutes during the regular season (2nd out of 32). The Tampa Bay Lightning held them to 6.6, marking a near 30% drop off. Judging by these numbers, it's fair to say the Lightning made surgical alterations to their game plan & executed to perfection. An offense that scored more than 4 goals per game in the regular season only mustered three in the entire series vs. Tampa. Blame Bobrovsky all you want, that's embarrassing. Not to mention impossible to win with.

The Tampa Bay Lightning simply know how to win, and they proved it again. Being able win hockey games is one thing. Being able to win championships is another. It requires sacrifice. Blocking shots, sacrificing the body to make plays, extreme attention to detail. The Panthers didn't have it in this series, and it's perfectly reasonable to question if they have it at all.

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