How to Watch Panthers at Lightning: Lines (?), Goalies, Betting

The Florida Panthers play their final game of the regular season tonight, and it may be the first of an extended upcoming series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida and Tampa Bay are on a collision course to meet in the playoffs for the fourth time in five postseasons.

Game 1 could be as early as Sunday — and the Lightning would have home ice in the series after Florida lost its chance to catch Tampa Bay with a 5-3 loss to the Rangers on Monday night.

Tampa Bay sits four points back of Toronto for first in the Atlantic, and could catch the Maple Leafs if it wins both of its final two games and the Leafs get no points in their final two games.

So, yeah, it’s going to be the Panthers and Lightning in Round 1.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper is bringing his A Squad against the Panthers to give themselves the best shot to catch the Leafs.

“We’re not in a position where we can rest players or sit guys out,’’ Cooper said after the Lightning morning skate.

“Our job is to put ourselves in the best position to start Sunday or whenever we’re going to play. This is the group we are going with. Regardless of who we’re playing, we’re going to try and win the game and make sure we’re doing everything possible in that regard. We want to make sure we’re clicking on all cylinders.’’

The Panthers are taking a different approach with coach Paul Maurice expected to pull a number of veterans who played Monday — including Sasha Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, and Gus Forsling.

That could make for some jumbled lines going into tonight, although everything will look different when the team lines up for its first postseason practice Thursday morning in Fort Lauderdale.

PANTHERS @ LIGHTNING

• How to Watch: Tonight’s game is on local TV and is also being broadcast nationally on ESPN. As usual, the game can be streamed locally on Panthers+. Those who live outside the Panthers viewing territory can stream the game on ESPN+.
• Starting Goalies: The Panthers will wrap up the regular season with Vitek Vanecek; The Lightning will start Andrei Vasilevskiy.
• NHL Betting Odds: The local book has Tampa Bay as a favorite (-185) on the money line. If you think the Panthers will pull the upset, a $100 bet pays $155.

ON DECK: GAME No. 82

FLORIDA PANTHERS at TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 

• When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• National TV: ESPN
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Betting Odds — Lightning Favored: Money Line (-185); Puck line (-1.5, +130); Over/Under 5.5 (-115/-105)
• Season Series (Panthers Lead 2-1) — At Tampa Bay: Panthers 4, Lightning 2 (Dec. 22); Tuesday. At Florida: Lightning 4, Panthers 0 (Dec. 23); Panthers 2, Lightning 1 (March 3).
• Last Regular Season: Panthers Won 2-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-52-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Lightning Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.
• Up Next for the Panthers — Game 1, 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: TBD

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (47-30-4; 98 points) LINES

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 63 Brad Marchand

23 Carter Verhaeghe// 17 Evan Rodrigues // 70 Jesper Boqvist

20 Jesse Puljujarvi // 74 Rasmus Asplund // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

10 A.J. Greer // 92 Tomas Nosek // 12 Jonah Gadjovich

77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones

6 Jaycob Megna // 26 Uvis Balinskis

4 Matt Kiersted // 88 Nate Schmidt

41 Vitek Vanecek

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Sasha Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Dmitry Kulikov, Gus Forsling

Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Nico Sturm (upper body)

Suspended: Aaron Ekblad

PROJECTED TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (46-28-8; 100) LINES

37 Yanni Gourde // 21 Brayden Point // 86 Nikita Kucherov

38 Brandon Hagel // 71 Anthony Cirelli // 59 Jake Guentzel

93 Gage Goncalves // 20 Nick Paul // 14 Conor Geekie

— // 28 Zemgus Girgensons // 41 Mitchell Chaffee

77 Victor Hedman // 90 JJ Moser

27 Ryan McDonagh // 81 Erik Cernak

78 Emil Lilleberg // 48 Nick Perbix

— // 43 Darren Raddysh

88 Andrei Vasilevskiy

31 Jonas Johansson

Scratched: None

Injured: Oliver Bjorkstrand (lower body), Luke Glendening (upper body)