On verge of being swept, No. 1 seed Florida Panthers try to 'find some energy and some passion'

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The playoffs are officially on life support for the Florida panthers after they fell to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Sunday.

With a victory in Monday's Game 4, the Lightning can eliminate the Presidents' Trophy-winning team.

Florida coach Andrew Brunette said that the Gators have more desire than they do. Hopefully, we can find some energy and passion.

Only four teams in NHL history have come back to win a playoff series. The first regular-season points leader to be swept from the playoffs since the Columbus Blue Jackets did it in the first round of the playoffs is the Florida panthers.

Since then, the team has won two Stanley Cups. In shutting down Florida's once-potent offensive attack, the Lightning looked every bit like a champion.

In the first three games of the series, the panthers have only scored one goal, which is a stark contrast to their regular-season dominance, when they averaged a league-high 4.11 goals per game. Florida only scored one goal three times.

Four or more goals against were allowed in each of those outings. In two of the three losses, that has been the case.

Jonathan Huberdeau said that it was on them. Every man has the ability to do a little bit better. They are waiting for the puck. They are a good team. They just wait for us to make mistakes and then they take advantage of it.

Florida was almost out of it's position. The Florida panthers were dealt a dagger in the second game of the series when Ross Colton broke a tie with less than four seconds remaining in regulation to rob them of a chance at overtime.

This early in the playoffs, the panthers had two days off to regroup. The Florida team trailed Game 3 off the bat when they were down by a goal.

A beacon of hope.

Florida finally broke its bad luck on the power play when Sam Reinhart responded less than three minutes later. They were the only team left that didn't take advantage of an extra man.

While his marker didn't spark Florida's offense, he was hopeful the quick turnaround to Game 4 would be an asset.

He said you don't want a lot of time to think about it.

Florida will need more from its top players. He assisted on the goal and has two helpers. The man has no goals or assists. Ditto for Claude Giroux. Bobrovsky made 31 saves on Sunday and has a...............

The panthers mountain is in perspective, at least according to Huberdeau.

He said that they can show up, win a game, and it will be a different series. We have that kind of team.

To do that, Florida will have to solve Vasilevskiy. The Conn Smythe trophy winner has been outstanding in this series, and he turned aside 34 shots on Sunday. Only one of those was registered by Huberdeau, who was hopeful that someone from Florida could break Vasilevskiy down.

He is a great goalie, but eventually he will let one in that will help us.

That is the only path to a comeback.

It's three. "Who cares, we can come back," he said.