Florida Panthers, and hopes of fans, in peril with 3-1 Game 2 playoff loss to Tampa Bay | Opinion

How much do you still believe now, Florida Panthers fans? Better question: Is that faith fortified with actual confidence, or wobbling on the balsa wood legs of wishful thinking?

Down 2-0 in a best-of-7 series after Tuesday night’s 3-1 Panthers home loss, with Games 3 and 4 in Tampa Bay, against the reigning NHL champions — that will challenge and shake the faith of any mere mortal.

Florida coach Joel Quenneville, pedigreed NHL champion, spoke postgame in a way that suggests a pointed team meeting on Wednesday.

“We need more guys who are at their best,” he said. “There’s more there from certain guys.”

These teams are so close, so even. If excitement were quantifiable, playoff hockey would win. The run for the Stanley Cup should be sponsored by cardiologists.

So here is what will happen now:

The Panthers will do what few in hockey expect them to right now: Win four of the next five games against their bitter state rivals.

Or the Panthers will do what they do: Continue the historic ignominy of having not won a single Stanley Cup playoff series since 1996.

If that seems harsh, sorry. But after the Cats’ best regular season in franchise history sent hopes to the moon, there are no points here for heart, effort and no-quit. No participation ribbons. Win a playoff series. Period.

“We are a confident group,” said Aleksander Barkov after the loss. “Just stick together as a team. Every game, every shift, we are going to battle to the end.”

There is no in-between at this point.

It will be an epic comeback for the biggest signature triumph in Cats postseason history — a ride that will enthrall South Florida with hockey for truly the first time in 25 years.

Or it will be just the latest disappointment in a parade of them.

This is the beauty of sports, and also the brutality of it.

Unscripted, your team is about to give you a memory you’ll remember for decades, or deeply hurt your heart and soul.

Tampa Bay did what it needed to do to help deflate the home-ice edge the sonic-loud Panthers crowd meant to bring. It was 50 percent capacity again due to COVID protocols and another 9,000-plus fans, but it sounded like a full arena.

A fast 2-0 deficit will do something about that ambiance.

“We fell asleep a couple times,” Barkov said.

Lightning struck just 4:52 in on a Steven Stamkos goal off Cats defenseman Anton Stralman in the crease. Stamkos — the Panthers-killer of long standing, with his 34th goal in 56 career games vs. Florida.

It was 2-0 Tampa on an Ondrej Palat shot 14:57 into the same first period.

Chris Driedger replaced Sergei Bobrovksy in goal for the Cats, making his first NHL playoff start on his 27th birthday. Could have been a sweet happy birthday story. The Lightning ruined it. This wasn’t about Driegs-or-Bob, though. No controversy here. Nothing to see. Bobrovsky’s 30 season starts and Driedger’ 23 made them all but co-starters.

“A little bit of nerves for sure,” admitted Driedger.

It wasn’t goaltending that has Florida in a 2-0 hole.

Florida drew within 2-1 14:21 into the second period when Mason Marchment converted service from Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe.

But the desperately sought tying goal did not happen.

“Couldn’t buy the goal we were looking for,” Quenneville said.

Florida desperately pulled its goalie with 2:17 to play.

Tampa’s empty-net third goal came 52 seconds later.

These teams are so close, so even. Both games have been.

But all that isn’t close is all that matters today:

Tampa Bay, 2-0.

The story line after Florida’s 5-4 Game 1 loss was that the Panthers had won the 5-on-5 battle but lost on account of penalties. Well, no duh. The Cats’ defensive penalty killing was awful as Tampa went 3-for-4 on the power play.

“I know it sucks, but it happened,” as Barkov put it, quite eloquently.

Tuesday there was no such excuse. The referees blessedly swallowed their whistles. There were zero penalties in the first period, unheard of for a playoff series of this rivalry and vitriol.

Florida beat Tampa five of eight games in the regular season but this is a different Lightning squad. Stamkos healthy after a month out is a big difference. Nikita Kucherov back after missing the entire regular season injured is the big difference.

The Lightning’s winning pedigree factors in somewhere, too, at least for believers in intangible stuff like that.

Some rough luck has hit the Panthers, sure.

Kucherov coming back for Tampa. The disallowed goal in Game 1. Forward Sam Bennett suspended from Game 2 for a less-than-felonious boarding call. Heck, the very fact that the NHL’s pandemic-altered playoff format this year had the Cats facing the league champs in the first round.

All of it must be overcome.

It’s what you do if you are a long off-radar franchise meaning to matter at last.

One of the Panthers’ playoff marketing mottos is, “The Moment Is Now.”

Oh, but it is.