Panthers' Brandon Montour: Heating up in playoffs

Montour registered an assist and four blocked shots versus the Lightning in Game 4 on Saturday, but it wasn't enough, as the Panthers suffered a 6-3 loss.

After being held without a point in the first two games of the conference quarterfinals, Montour stacked a goal and two helpers between Game 3 and Game 4. The eighth-year defenseman has always had a high ceiling in terms of offensive potential, but there had been a fair number of detractors until Montour's eye-popping 73-point campaign surfaced in 2022-23. He had offseason shoulder surgery and missed the first 16 games of the recently completed regular season, leveling back down to a half-point-per game average. In this playoff series, Montour is averaging 23:26 of ice time with 2:27 on the man advantage. The Panthers will have another crack at eliminating the Lightning in Game 5 on Monday, this time on home ice.