The Florida Panthers pulled away in the third period to win 6-1 in Monday's Game 5 and eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It's the Panthers' first playoff series victory over their in-state rivals. Florida will play either the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round.

"We knew this was a big game for us, coming back home," captain Aleksander Barkov said, per Bally Sports Florida. "We got a big steal in Tampa. ... Today, I think we showed up."

He added, "Of course, we know there's a history between us two. We know Tampa has won Cups and been in the finals. And they're so close to us, one-hour flight, that it almost pisses me off. At the same time, huge respect to them, they've been an unreal franchise for a long time. But this time we got the best of them."

The Panthers scored twice to make it 4-1 in the final frame before adding two empty-netters. Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each notched two goals.

Tampa Bay saw two goals called back due to goaltender interference.

The Lightning have now seen their campaign end in the first round in consecutive years. The Maple Leafs eliminated Tampa in six games last season.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning saw a goal called back for goalie interference in each of the first two periods of Monday's Game 5 series-ending loss to the Florida Panthers.

First, Anthony Cirelli's would-be opener was wiped off the board after Panthers head coach Paul Maurice successfully challenged the goal.

Then, late in the second period, the Bolts appeared to tie the game at 2-2 on a point blast from Mikhail Sergachev. However, referee Eric Furlatt immediately called it no goal on the ice due to Cirelli making contact with Sergei Bobrovsky in the crease.

Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper addressed the calls after the defeat.

"This is clearly a turning point in the game," Cooper said, per Bally Sports Sun. "If anyone is going to talk about this game, they're going to talk about the goals that were taken away."

He added, "There's (league) mandates. The words were: To pull a goal off the board, it has to be unbelievably egregious. That's the standard to pull a goal off the board. Well, the first one's on the board, and I couldn't find anything remotely egregious about that."

Cooper conceded the missed calls weren't the reason his club lost the game, as the Panthers dominated the third period and advanced to the second round with a 6-1 victory.

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are famously unpredictable, but few could've foreseen Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck losing his Vezina-caliber form in the first round.

Hellebuyck has an .870 save percentage in four games against the Colorado Avalanche and has allowed more goals (19) than any other goaltender in the playoffs. With Winnipeg in a 3-1 series hole, blue-liner Neal Pionk said it's up to the skaters to pick up their star between the pipes.

"We have the best goalie in the league, and we got to play better in front of him. So plain and simple," Pionk said, according to The Canadian Press. "We got to give up less chances, block more shots and compete a little harder in front of him."

The Jets pulled the netminder from a 5-1 loss Sunday in Game 4, but head coach Rick Bowness agrees with Pionk's assessment.

"I gave him a little bit of a breather in the third period last night and to put a little more onus on the players in front of him have to play better," Bowness said. "That's why we made that (change). It had absolutely nothing to do with his play at all."

The Avalanche have heavily controlled play in the series, outshooting the Jets 122-87 at five-on-five while also registering 56.35% of scoring chances and 59.67% of expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Colorado was the league's most potent offense in the regular season, but many expected Winnipeg to be a difficult test in large part due to Hellebuyck.

The 30-year-old is a Vezina Trophy finalist for the fourth time in seven seasons and is the presumptive favorite for the hardware after going 37-19-4 with a .921 save percentage and five shutouts in 60 games this season.

Winnipeg's must-win Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday night on home ice.

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A new Music City Miracle was born in game 4 vs the Preds, so lots to debrief for Matt and Blake on this Monday edition of the show. The guys look at one of the most memorable endings of a Canucks game in franchise history, and how improbably this 3-1 series lead is given what’s happened on the ice.

Former Canucks coach Marc Crawford joins the guys to praise Quinn Hughes’ resilience, Rick Tocchet’s decision-making, and the play of young goalie Arturs Silovs who gets pressed into service. Not to mention, Crow has had some experience being up 3-1 in a series, so his thoughts on the importance of Game 5 in Vancouver.

We’re also joined by Jeff Paterson, who paints a picture of the night that was at Bridgestone Arena, reviews the contributions of the Canucks key players, and plots a path to victory for the Canucks going forward. Plus, an historic NFL Draft for the province of BC, and the Whitecaps keep rolling too! Presented by Applewood Auto Group.

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