And by the midway point, the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers had run away with Game 1. The Lightning allowed five goals on Florida’s first 11 shots, sucking the energy out of the building and losing the home-ice advantage Tampa Bay had worked for in an eventual 6-2 loss.

The four-goal lead easily stood up, with the Panthers defeating the Lightning 6-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena. Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET; TBS, TRU, MAX, FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS).

The Panthers out-hit the Lightning by a 48-28 count. They particularly made their presence felt in the first period when they were credited with 19 hits to only nine for the Lightning. If Jon Cooper is concerned about what the Panthers did to his team physically, he’s not letting on.