Since advancing to three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020 to 2022, the Lightning have lost in the first round of the playoffs the past three seasons.
And for the second straight postseason, their in-state rival, the Florida Panthers, did the deed.
The Panthers won 6-3 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tampa's Amalie Arena to clinch the best-of-seven series.
Tampa Bay, which opened the series with home-ice advantage, failed to win any of the three games at Amalie Arena and fell to 1-9 in its past 10 home playoff games.
“We have a group in here that we really believe in, and that’s not going to change going forward,'' Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. ”Three straight years, we're knocked out in the first round, so we’re going to have to put a stop to that next year.''
The Panthers, defending Stanley Cup champions, will next play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators. Toronto leads, 3-2, and Game 6 is Thursday in Ottawa.
"They're an exceptional team," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the Panthers, who won the Cup last season after losing in the Final the previous year. "They got a sniff of it, they went to the final, didn't win, came back, went to the Final and won.
"And who knows what they're going to do this year, but they’re primarily the same team. But now they know how to do it. And there's only a few teams in the last little while that really know how to do it. We were one of them, and now they're one of them, and it's unfortunate we've had to run into them."
Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists for Florida. Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves to help the Panthers reach the second round for the fourth consecutive season.
“I know every year is gets harder and harder, and this series was really hard,'' said Barkov, the Panthers' captain. "So, we’re happy with the end result.''
The Lightning received goals from Gage Goncalves, Nick Paul and a power play marker from Jake Guentzel. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves.
Bennett scored with 4:47 left in the second period just six seconds after he came out of the penalty box, finishing off a 2-on-1 chance with Lundell and beating Vasilevskiy to the far post on the stick side to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 lead.
“It’s not a good feeling being in the box twice there, and especially after they scored one,'' Bennett said. ”So, a little anxious in the box there, but was able to come out, and (Lundell) made a great play to find me. Definitely a little weight off my shoulders.''
Tampa Bay scored the opening goal for the first time in the series when Goncalves scored 2:33 into the game. But Florida answered with a power-play goal from Verhaeghe at 5:21 and Lundell redirected a Brad Marchand pass at 10:06.
Paul pulled the Lightning even at 12:16 of the first with his second goal of the series.
Barkov tipped a Gustav Forsling shot 52 seconds into the second to put Florida back in front before Guentzel snapped an 0-for-16 power play slump for Tampa Bay at 9:57.
"I thought the games were close," Lightning forward Brayden Point said. "They just found ways to win and we didn’t. We had the lead, we couldn't extend it. When it was a tie game, they found a way to score and we didn’t. Give a lot of credit to them, but I thought they were close games.”
Either Tampa Bay or Florida has represented the East in the Stanley Cup Final each of the past five seasons.
"Whether ... they swept us or was 4-1, 4-2, to me, that's kind of irrelevant," Cooper said. "They beat us, and we're in a really tough division, and we've (both) been the rep in the conference final or in the Stanley Cup Final the last five years. It was our turn for a while. Now, it's theirs, and our job is to make sure it's our turn again.”
The Lightning played without forward Brandon Hagel, who sustained a head injury in Game 4 when he was struck with an elbow by Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad. Ekblad earned a two-game suspension from the NHL for the hit and did not play Wednesday. He also must sit out Game 1 of the next round.
