The Florida Panthers made a statement on Tuesday with their 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin their best-of-7 Stanley Cup playoffs opening-round series at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. Here are five notable stats from the Panthers’ series-opening win.

The Panthers out-hit the Lightning by a 48-28 count. They particularly made their presence felt in the first period when they were credited with 19 hits to only nine for the Lightning. If Jon Cooper is concerned about what the Panthers did to his team physically, he’s not letting on.

After missing the last two months of the regular season with a lower-body injury, Tkachuk opened the 2025 postseason with a dominant two-goal performance.