Graphic design: Francisco Oporta (Filter by Todd Little)
For the fourth time in five seasons, the Florida Panthers (47-31-4) will meet its cross-state rival in the playoffs when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning (47-27-8) tonight in Game 1 at Amalie Arena.
A late season swoon dropped the roster-ravaged Panthers from first to third place in the Atlantic Division to set up yet another Sunshine State showdown. Despite the fall, the Cats still managed to post the fourth-highest points total in franchise history on the strength of strong individual performances from Sam Reinhart, who led the team in scoring for a second-straight season, Sergei Bobrovsky (33 wins), Aleksander Barkov (71 points in 67 games) and Anton Lundell, who established a new career-high with 45 points. The Cats split the season series with the Bolts, with each team winning once at home and once on the road. Florida will be missing suspended defenseman Aaron Ekblad for the first two games of the series, while Matthew Tkachuk will be a game-time decision.
The Lightning enter the postseason on a hot streak. They went 7-2-3 down the stretch to hit the 100-point mark for the first time since the 2021-22 season. This is the eighth-straight time that Tampa Bay has made the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov led the league in scoring again with 121 points, and ended up tied with Nathan MacKinnon with an NHL-best 84 assists. Brayden Point (42) and newcomer Jake Guentzel (41) breached the 40-goal plateau. That duo leads a group of six Bolts who scored 22 or more goals. The Lightning boast the league’s fifth-ranked power play (25.9%), so the Panthers will need to stay out of the penalty box to better their chances of winning what should be a tight series.
- WHEN: 8:30 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amalie Arena – Tampa, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Scripps, FDSNSUN, ESPN
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), Real Radio 92.1 (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoBolts, #FLAvsTBL, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Raw Charge
- LAST MEETING: @TBL 5, FLA 1 – (Recap) 4/15/2025
- NEXT MEETING: Game 2 – April 24, 2025
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (33-19-2 .906 / 2.44 5SO) Tampa Bay: Vasilevskiy (38-20-2 .921 / 2.18 6SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay
Tuesday in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
- New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes 6 p.m. (ESPN) Carolina leads series 1-0
- Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2) Toronto leads series 1-0
- Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights 11 p.m. (ESPN) Vegas leads series 1-0
Monday’s results
- Capitals 3, Canadiens 2 (OT) (Washington leads series 1-0)
- Jets 2, Blues 1 (Winnipeg leads series 2-0)
- Stars 4, Avalanche 3 (OT) (Series tied 1-1)
- Kings 6, Oilers 5 (Los Angeles leads series 1-0)
