The 2021 Panthers will be remembered for their best regular season in franchise history and a pair of young, unexpected heroes providing playoff memories.
But after Ryan Lomberg’s Game 3 overtime winner and 20-year-old goalie Spencer Knight’s phenomenal Game 5 to extend the first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, that’s as far as it would go.
The Panthers couldn’t score on Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy while Tampa Bay got a pair past Knight plus a third late for the dagger in Game 6. Florida’s memorable season came to an end with a 4-0 defeat at Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Wednesday night.