A lot of people expected the Battle of Florida to be a six or seven game seres between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the past four seasons, one of the two Florida teams has represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Lightning won in 2020 and 2021 before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. In 2023, the Panthers made it to the Final but were defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights.
It is clear now that the Panthers have a significant edge over the Lightning as they won the series in five games. So, the Lightning won't be winning the Stanley Cup later in June.
These are the three biggest reasons why that won't be happening:
Nikita Kucherov, Braden Point, and Steven Stamkos can't do it all
When it comes to offense, the Lightning rely a lot on Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Braden Point. They are three of the most productive players the franchise has ever had.
Kucherov and Stamkos will go to the Hall of Fame and Point still has a long way to go before we could be debating his status (it is unlikely despite how good he's been).
There is no more Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn, or Blake Coleman anymore. They hit a home run with the Brandon Hagel trade but it still isn't enough.
When you put Tampa's scoring depth against Florida's, it just doesn't compete. When you have to get through them to win the Stanley Cup, it just isn't possible for a roster like that.