‘We know what it takes’: Panthers eye another playoff run. First up: Tampa Bay Lightning

The Florida Panthers shocked the hockey world — and, at times, themselves — in the playoffs last season. They were the underdog of underdogs, the last team to punch their ticket into the postseason, the team that needed virtually everything to go right down the stretch just for the chance to make the playoffs.

And then they upset a Boston Bruins team that had the best regular season in NHL history, coming back from a 3-1 hole in the series to win in seven games.

And then they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games.

And then they swept the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Eastern Conference and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for just the second time in franchise history.

While Florida ultimately lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights, it gave the Panthers the understanding of just what it takes to be one of the final teams standing — and the desire get back to that spot.

“We’re ready to do it again,” forward Nick Cousins said. “We know what it takes. We know how hard it is. We know how consistent we have to be. It’s just a matter of finding that recipe that made us successful last year and bringing that same intensity and same mindset into into Game 1. We know it’s gonna be hard, but we have a team that’s ready for it.”

That team includes 14 players who were critical in Florida making as deep of a run as it did last year as well as a slew of reinforcements added throughout the offseason and at the trade deadline to make this year’s Panthers team deeper than last year and shore up its deficiencies.

Their journey to make a repeat appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals — and potentially win it all for the first time in the franchise’s 30-year history — begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Amerant Bank Arena with Game 1 of their best-of-7 series against the in-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning.

“The experience we had last year is gonna be huge,” defenseman Brandon Montour said. “It’s not just because we made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s because we know how hard it is and how much effort and how physically it is on your body and the highs and lows in the series. We experienced a lot. Being able to maintain that and bring your best effort every single game is huge, and I think the experience that we had last year and obviously older guys that we brought in and gelled in right away, that’s just going to be that much better for us.”

A roster built for success

As the Panthers prepare for what’s ahead, their roster this season just might be more equipped to handle a deep playoff run than the group they had a year ago.

Start with the players who return from last season: forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Cousins and Ryan Lomberg; defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Montour and Josh Mahura; and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

Then factor in the veterans the Panthers brought in over the offseason: forwards Evan Rodrigues, Kevin Stenlund, Steven Lorentz and Jonah Gadjovich; defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov; and goaltender Anthony Stolarz.

And finally, weave in the additions of forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo at the trade deadline.

On paper, it’s a deeper team than the one that reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Florida has the talent to field five forward lines and four defense pairings along with a goaltender tandem that was among the best in the league.

Everyone has his own role that plays into the puzzle of putting together a complete team and everyone fits into coach Paul Maurice’s gritty, defense-first style of play that came to life in the playoffs last season and carried over into the regular season. It’s a key reason Florida was one of the top defensive teams in the NHL, tying for the fewest goals per game (2.41), allowing the third-fewest shots per game (27.8) and having the sixth-best penalty kill (82.5 percent) after ranking 23rd last season (76 percent).

There’s an understanding in the dressing room of the common goal — putting themselves in the best position to succeed in the playoffs — and a camaraderie that allows everyone to simultaneously be one cohesive unit and their own selves while attempting to reach that goal.

Newly extended, Panthers GM Bill Zito has made Florida ‘an unreal place to be right now’

“We’ve got some unique guys in there ... a lot of different personalities,” Maurice said. “What I think you find is because of the room and the way that it is so accepting, guys are completely comfortable truly being themselves and then that weirdness or uniqueness comes out. If it’s an uptight room and a cliquey room, it would be no different than when you were in high school, right? You’re not sharing your weirdness with everybody because you get mocked mercilessly for it. Now, you still get mocked, but everybody gets mocked, so it’s fair. It’s kind of like that. The room allows us all to be goofy at times or just as stupid as we all are and not be afraid of it.”

Added Barkov: “Everyone’s serious when we go on the ice and we have to work. Off the ice, we want to be as relaxed as possible and joke around and that kind of stuff. We love spending time together. That’s what kind of glues us together.”

‘Anything can happen’

That team-wide bond will be critical in the craziness that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“Once the playoffs start,” Cousins said, “anything can happen. We’ve got to make sure that we’re we’re ready for that.”

The Panthers were the prime example of that last year.

They entered the playoffs as the final team in the field after a second-half turnaround in Maurice’s first season at the helm — “it was kind of like the playoffs for us since January,” Barkov said — but showed that simply making it into the playoffs gives a chance to wreak havoc and make history.

Their upset of the Boston Bruins in the first round — capped by three consecutive must win games, including an enthralling 4-3 overtime winner in Game 7 in which Florida tied the game with a minute to go in regulation — “kind of shocked the whole hockey world,” Cousins said.

“They were the best team in the league for the whole season,” Cousins said, “so we knew if we could beat them, we could essentially beat anybody.”

As Panthers try to make more playoff memories, a look back at their 2023 Stanley Cup Finals run

They never looked back, making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before a miracle postseason run ended in heartbreak against Vegas.

“You learn from experiences like that,” Reinhart said. “You learn what it takes. You see the type of game that’s gonna give you success at this time of year. That’s kind of what we’ve tried to play all year and we’re gonna stick to it.”

But as Maurice is quick to point out, his team can’t — and won’t — rest on its laurels from last season. They can certainly apply the lessons learned from that run as they maneuver through what might come their way, but a new postseason will present new challenges they must overcome.

“There’s a value to it,” Maurice said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you have to live through what’s next.”

What’s next is a date with the Lightning, the team that knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs in both 2021 and 2022.

Florida was a different team those years than what it is now. The Panthers play a different style of hockey. They’re more battle-tested. They’re more prepared to handle the emotions positive or negative.

“We’re built to play those big games, to play that way,” Barkov said. “It’s been working for us this year and last year in the playoffs. We’re gonna keep building and keep getting better.”