TNT and Other NHL Analysts Under Fire for Bold Tampa Bay Predictions as Florida Panthers Flip the Script

Picture the Tampa Bay Lightning team, a powerhouse with a Vezina Trophy finalist in net and the NHL’s leading scorer, finally get their power play clicking and secondary scoring rolling. Everything’s lining up for a deep playoff run, right? Wrong. The Florida Panthers, their in-state rivals, had other plans, flipping the script with a 6-3 Game 5 rout to send Tampa packing for the second straight postseason.

The Lightning fought hard, clawing back from deficits twice in Game 5. Gage Goncalves, Nick Paul, and Jake Guentzel lit the lamp, but it wasn’t enough. Sam Bennett’s late second-period goal gave Florida the edge they’d hold onto, with Eetu Luostarinen’s four-point night (including a goal) and Sergei Bobrovsky’s 26 saves sealing the deal. Andrei Vasilevskiy, facing a barrage, stopped 25 of 30 shots but couldn’t stem the Panther tide.

Just days before, TNT’s Paul Bissonnette was all-in on Florida. “I think that team can beat Tampa Bay, yes,” he said, joking about Aaron Ekblad’s hyperbaric chamber recovery and betting on the Panthers’ healthy lineup. But on today’s Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Biz did a full 180. “I said Florida’s gonna win this series on TNT… but I’m torn. This is gonna be an all-out war… I think the Tampa Bay Lightning are gonna win this in seven.” Oof, talk about bad timing.

Fans, meanwhile, are buzzing. One X post summed it up: “The Panthers beating a genuinely elite Lightning team in five is downright terrifying.” And terrifying it was. Florida, fully healthy after late-season injuries, won all three games in Tampa. They dominated in every way—crushing Game 1, blanking Tampa in Game 2, and staging a wild Game 4 comeback with two goals 11 seconds apart to counter Tampa’s own rapid-fire scoring.

the panthers beating a genuinely elite lightning team in five is downright terrifying

— dom (@domluszczyszyn) May 1, 2025

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