Panthers rout Tampa — and dominate another fight — to clinch home ice for playoff rematch

Neither the Florida Panthers nor the Tampa Bay Lightning were treating the regular-season finale Monday as a must-win situation — just take a look at the lineup choices and late scratches — but, with a first-round playoff series looming, they couldn’t help themselves.

Late in the second period of the Panthers’ 4-0 rout to lock up home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, Jan Rutta was angry enough to jump on top of Mason Marchment and punch the left wing while he was down, and that made Kevin Connauton angry enough to finally start the first fight of the game.

The defenseman picked out Daniel Walcott and proceeded to spend about 10 seconds pummeling the Lightning defenseman. With 6:12 left in the period, Connauton, Marchment, Rutta and Walcott all headed to the penalty box after the first major fracas of the night.

“Chippy, very emotional games heading into the playoffs,” winger Anthony Duclair said, “but we stick up for each other. We’ve been doing it all year and it’s not going to change.”

After the rivals piled up 154 penalty minutes in the penultimate game of the regular season Saturday, they combined for 38 more Monday in Sunrise, and it was all just an appetizer to the rest of May.

Next up: Maybe seven more games between two Florida foes with Stanley Cup aspirations.

“Those are two really good playoff hockey games,” said Chris Driedger, who notched his third shutout of the season with 30 saves. “Multiple fights in both games. I think we had all 10 guys going at one point tonight, so it’s just good, fun playoff hockey and guys are finding ways to put in the back of the net.”

Star defenseman MacKenzie Weegar put the Panthers ahead 1-0 in the first period, then versatile forward Juho Lammiko added a shorthanded goal in the second, when he stripped Vezina Trophy-favorite Andrei Vasilevskiy behind the net and beat the unsuspecting goalie on a wraparound goal.

It was more than enough for Florida to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the Central Division and home-ice advantage for its first-round series against the Lightning later this month. The Stanley Cup playoffs could begin as early as Saturday, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told NHL.com, and the Panthers will start them in South Florida against Tampa Bay.

On Saturday, both teams explicitly tried to set the tone — Lightning winger Pat Maroon said Saturday he wanted the Panthers to think, “Holy [expletive], we’re playing the Tampa Bay Lightning” — and Florida landed the first punch with a blowout win against an increasingly frustrated opponent. On Monday, both teams just wanted to get to the Cup playoffs intact, with home ice a secondary concern.

The Panthers scratched All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau and left Patric Hornqvist on the bench with a lingering upper-body injury, even as fellow winger Carter Verhaeghe made his return from a 13-game injury for a pre-playoff tune-up, scoring a third-period goal in the process. Tampa Bay kept defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh both on the bench for the second straight game due to injuries, and held out star left wing Ondrej Palat, who’s dealing with a lower-body injury.

The referees did their best to keep the game under control, too.

In the first minute of his first game in a month, Verhaeghe went to the penalty box for four minutes after he high-sticked versatile Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph and drew blood. Less than six minutes later, defenseman Radko Gudas shoved Tampa Bay winger Blake Coleman after Chris Driedger covered a puck, and Gudas wound up in the box for roughing after a small scrum formed around the net. In the waning minutes of the first period, winger Frank Vatrano and Jan Rutta both headed to the box for two minutes after Vatrano checked Rutta late, and the Lightning defenseman pushed back in retaliation.

They could only keep the temperature down for so long.

With less than seven minutes left in the second period, Marchment blew up Rutta with a flying check and Rutta took exception, pinning the rookie to the ice and punching him in the head. Finally, Florida and Tampa Bay had an excuse to fight and the 5,040 at the BB&T Center jolted to life.

Connauton pried Rutta off Marchment and Walcott pulled Connauton off his teammate. Connauton twisted back to his feet, pressed Walcott against the glass, freed up his arms and went to work. He landed an uppercut on Walcott, who was making his NHL debut, and knocked off his helmet. He jabbed him twice in the side of the head and got Walcott to fall to his knees, and then he landed about a half dozen more punches, holding up before delivering a final blow against the now-defenseless rookie.

Connauton probably won’t play in the upcoming series. Walcott probably won’t, either, and Marchment and Rutta are ultimately bit players as bottom-line skaters. The animosity seeped through the entire rosters and the set stage for a historic playoff opener in the next week.

Since the Panthers debuted in 1993, they’ve never met the Lightning in the playoffs. While Florida has failed to win a single playoff series since reaching 1996 Stanley Cup Finals, Tampa Bay has built one of the league’s model franchises, with two Cups since the turn of the century. The defending-champion Lightning has historically been the clear class of the state, but the Panthers have had the edge all year.

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It was, despite its abbreviated nature, probably the best regular season in franchise history. Florida’s .705 points percentage is its best ever. The 79 points in 56 games were more than the Panthers managed in eight other full, 82-game campaigns. They won more games than they lost for only the seventh time in franchise history and finished just two points short of winning their third division title.

Coach Joel Quenneville is probably the favorite for the Jack Adams Award. Star center Alekander Barkov could be a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy and is the likely frontrunner for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. Weegar might get votes for the James Norris Memorial Trophy — and he only emerged as a candidate after fellow defenseman Aaron Ekblad fractured his leg in March to end his candidacy. Florida is headed to the postseason for only the seventh time and begins the playoffs with a reasonable expectation to contend for a championship, even as it faces a potential gauntlet to start the playoffs.

The Panthers went 5-2-1 against Tampa Bay in the regular season. The players on the ice will be slightly different when the playoffs begin, but the attitude will be the same.

Florida does not fear the reigning champ.

“We should be excited about the way the season went for us, in a lot of ways,” Quenneville said, “but this is what we play for.”

Panthers’ high vaccination rate

The NHL will relax COVID-19 protocols for playoff teams with at least 85 percent of players and staff in the traveling party vaccinated against the coronavirus, and Quenneville expects Florida to hit the threshold.

Some of the biggest changes will be relaxed restrictions regarding mask-wearing, testing, quarantining and social gatherings, according to the league.

“There’ll be a real appreciation,” Quenneville said. “You’ve got to commend the guys on being diligent all year long of complying, whether it’s testing or masks, or inconveniences in some fashion, whether it’s separation of rooms, buses — you name it. There’s been no complaining all year long. That’s been the best part of adapting to it, but I just think the timing and where you can go outside, in restaurants and things like that, getting more acclimated back to normalcy — I’m sure there’ll be a great appreciation for it.”