Florida Panthers
Lightning at Panthers: How to Watch, Lines, Betting Odds
There will be an added wrinkle to the Sunshine State Showdown tonight when the Florida Panthers play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sunrise.
Seth Jones, acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, will get his first taste of the animosity between the two in-state rivals.
“If you watch every single game that Florida and Tampa play, it’s like a war out there,’’ Jones said Monday morning.
“Both teams are trying to prove a point every time they play each other.”
The Lightning have been proving a lot lately, coming into tonight’s game with an eight-game winning streak.
Toronto, Florida, and Tampa Bay are the top three teams in the Atlantic — and it looks like all three want to keep it that way.
The Maple Leafs and Panthers are 8-2-0 in their past 10 games; the Lightning are 9-0-1.
Tampa Bay is three points back of the second-place Panthers, and eight points in front of the fourth-place Red Wings.
For the second straight year, we could have a Tampa/Florida first-round matchup.
NOTES: LIGHTNING @ PANTHERS
- Matthew Tkachuk is now on LTIR with GM Bill Zito saying he is expected to be out for the remainder of the regular season. The Panthers hope he will be healthy for the start of the playoffs.
- Tampa Bay will play 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight.
- Jones will play with Niko Mikkola on the second pairing.
- How to Watch: Today’s game is on local TV. The game can also be streamed on Panthers+ locally and ESPN+ nationally.
- Starting Goalies: The Panthers will have Sergei Bobrovsky back in net; Andrei Vasilevskiy goes for the Lightning.
- NHL Betting Odds: The Panthers are favorites on the money line (-150) at the local book. To win with the Panthers, a $150 bet pays $100.
ON DECK: GAME No. 62
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING AT FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Monday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-150); Puck line (-1.5, +160); Over/Under 5.5 (-120/+100)
- Season Series (Lightning Lead 1-0) — At Tampa Bay: Sunday; Ap. 15. At Florida: Lightning 4, Panthers 0 (Dec. 23); Monday.
- Last Regular Season: Panthers Won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 77-52-19, 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: Thursday vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (37-21-3) LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
25 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist
10 A.J. Greer // 94 Tomas Nosek // 12 Jonah Gadjovich
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
88 Nate Schmidt // 7 Dmitry Kulikov
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
41 Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Uvis Balinskis
Returned to Charlotte: Chris Driedger
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body/LTIR)
PROJECTED TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (35-20-4) LINES
59 Jake Guentzel // 21 Brayden Point // 86 Nikita Kucherov
38 Brandon Hagel // 71 Anthony Cirelli // 93 Gage Goncalves
41 Mitchell Chaffee // 20 Nick Paul // 23 Michael Eyssimont
// 28 Zemgus Girgensons // 11 Luke Glendening
77 Victor Hedman // 90 J.J. Moser
27 Ryan McDonagh // 81 Erik Cernak
78 Emil Lilleberg // 43 Darren Raddysh
//48 Nick Perbix
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
31 Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Cam Atkinson
Injured: None
Tampa Bay Lightning Lines Courtesy of NHL.com
