The intrastate battle between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will be in the national spotlight Thursday as the fifth game between the two will be broadcast by NBCSN.

Nice timing for the Panthers to make their national television debut this season, eh?

By virtue of the Panthers winning in Dallas and the Lightning losing in Nashville on Tuesday, the two teams come into the game in a three-way tie with Carolina for first place in the NHL’s Central Division.

It does look like the race for first — with the winner avoiding one of the division’s so-called ‘Big Three’ — may come down to the final games.

”We lost three games and we really did not lose that much positioning,’’ Joel Quenneville said. “There is still hope to move ahead and recapture the top spot. We play one another four times, we play Carolina. It’s going to sort out.”

Thursday’s game at Amalie Arena will be the fifth meeting of the season between the Panthers and Lightning.

The two close out the 2021 regular season at BB&T Center in Sunrise.

“We are going to Tampa for some meaningful games,” Quenneville said following Florida’s 3-2 overtime win Tuesday night.

“The race is back on for us. We’re still in the mix.”

The Lightning should come into the game in a surly mood after getting spanked 7-2 in Nashville on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay did not do much to help goalie Curtis McElhinney and appeared ready to put that stinker behind them.

“There was only one team playing tonight,” Ryan McDonagh said. “They were quicker than us and more detailed in their structure. That was one of the worst performances I’ve seen in a Lightning uniform by our group. …

“Tough effort in front of McElhinney there. Feel bad for the big guy.”

Florida bounced back from a smelly effort of its own Tuesday. After Quenneville called Saturday’s loss in Dallas a “garbage can game,” the Panthers looked like a different team Tuesday and took a 2-1 lead into the third period.

Chris Driedger was able to hold off a desperate Dallas push in the third with a number of spectacular saves and, although Quenneville hasn’t made it official, the thought is Driedger will go Thursday in Tampa.

After the win Tuesday, he said Driedger has “given us some really good performances” and that both goalies “make it hard for us to change things.”

Said Frank Vatrano: “He’s been great for us all year. He’s definitely a guy we can rely on.’’

UPDATE: Driedger gets the start per Quenneville.

LINE DANCE

Florida is also expected to have a number of the new guys available Thursday so the projected lines are just that.

Brandon Montour and Nikita Gusev will play if available with the thought Lucas Wallmark gets in as well.

Anthony Duclair left Tuesday’s game after being tripped and falling awkwardly in overtime, but Quenneville said he thought Duclair would be OK.

UPDATE: Duclair is fine and in the lineup. Quenneville says Gusev goes up with Sasha Barkov and Mason Marchment on the top line. 

Also, Sam Bennett could be in the lineup by Saturday.

Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES

FLORIDA FORWARDS

19 Mason Marchment — 16 Sasha Barkov — 97 Nikita Gusev

11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 21 Alex Wennberg — 91 Anthony Duclair

77 Frank Vatrano — 27 Eetu Luostarinen — 74 Owen Tippett

55 Noel Acciari — 71 Lucas Wallmark — 70 Patric Hornqvist

FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN

42 Gus Forsling — 52 MacKenzie Weegar

7 Radko Gudas — 62 Brandon Montour

3 Keith Yandle — 65 Markus Nutivaara

FLORIDA GOALIES

60 Chris Driedger

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratches: F Ryan Lomberg, D Matt Kiersted, D Noah Juulsen, D Anton Stralman, G Spencer Knight

Injured: F Carter Verhaeghe (upper body, week-to-week); D Aaron Ekblad (leg, out for regular season)

Waiting on arrival: F Sam Bennett

Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, D Lucas Carlsson, D Brady Keeper, F Aleksi Heponiemi, G Philippe Desrosiers

Florida power play (31/140 22.1% — 12th in NHL)

Florida penalty kill (105/131 80.2% — 15th in NHL)

PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Frank Vatrano, Keith Yandle

PP2: Alex Wennberg, Anthony Duclair, Nikita Gusev, Mason Marchment, Gustav Forsling

PROJECTED TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING LINES

TAMPA BAY FORWARDS

18 Ondrej Palat — 21 Brayden Point — 71 Anthony Cirelli

20 Blake Coleman — 37 Yanni Gourde — 19 Barclay Goodrow

17 Alex Killorn — 9 Tyler Johnson — 7 Mathieu Joseph

14 Pat Maroon — 79 Ross Colton — 67 Mitchell Stevens

TAMPA BAY DEFENSEMEN

77 Victor Hedman — 58 David Savard

27 Ryan McDonagh — 81 Erik Cernak

98 Mikhail Sergachev — 2 Luke Schenn

TAMPA BAY GOALIES

88 Andrei Vasilevskiy

35 Curtis McElhinney

Tampa Bay power play (34/135 25.2% — 5th in NHL)

Tampa Bay penalty kill (115/139 82.7% — 9th in NHL)

PP1: Alex Killorn, Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, Victor Hedman

PP2: Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat, Pat Maroon, Blake Coleman, Mikhail Sergachev