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October 4, 2025
Florida panthers
Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) talks to against the Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper after Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning may be heated rivals, but the two teams have many common threads other than just being a 45-minute flight away from each other.

Tonight, the Panthers and Lightning close out the preseason in Sunrise — the third straight exhibition game between the two.

Thursday, the two teams got into it quite a few times, combining for 186 penalty minutes.

Perhaps the similarities between the two teams is one reason for the dislike.

First off, the two teams started around the same time: The Lightning entered the NHL in 1992, the Panthers a year later.


Both teams played in temporary quarters before moving to their current expansive and modern arenas.

The Lightning started at Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds, moved on to a baseball stadium which was, at that time, known as the Thunderdome. They moved to the brand new Ice Palace for the 1996-97 season.

After multiple sponsorships it received its current handle: Benchmark International Arena.

Florida started at the cozy but obsolete Miami Arena. They moved to what is now called Amerant Bank Arena in 1998.

The coaches of the Panthers and Lightning, Paul Maurice and Jon Cooper, have a lot of similarities on their resumes.

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In the three seasons that Maurice has been in Florida, the two have gone head-to-head in a total of 21 regular-season and playoff games.

The two have won the Stanley Cup in four of the past five seasons, and have participated in the past six Stanley Cup Finals.

Both have longevity in the league: Maurice has coached 1,930 regular season games, second all-time only to Scotty Bowman.

Cooper coached 961 games, all with Tampa. He stands fifth among current NHL coaches in longevity, behind Maurice, Joel Quenneville, Todd McLellan, and Lindy Ruff.

Maurice and Cooper are both the same age (57).

Neither played hockey at the professional level. Cooper, meanwhile, never served as an assistant coach in the NHL; Maurice spent only 12 games as an NHL assistant before taking over the Hartford Whalers in 1995.

Both teams sport general managers who have proven to be geniuses at evaluating talent and managing the salary cap.

Both Bill Zito and Julien BriseBois possess law degrees and had extensive experience dealing with hockey salaries before coming into their present positions.

Zito was a player agent prior to joining the executive staff of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Brisbois worked in sports law where he frequently represented NHL teams in salary arbitration cases before joining the Montreal Canadiens where he ultimately became vice president of hockey operations.

Zito played college hockey at Yale. BriseBois has no minor league or college hockey experience.

Zito’s use of Matthew Tkachuk’s LTIR status enabled him to acquire Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. All three were then available for last year’s playoffs where, for the final time, there was no cap limitation.

BriseBois pulled off a similar move in 2021 using Nikita Kucherov’s LTIR during the regular season to maintain a roster which included Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and Brayden Point in addition to a generous supply of role players and grinders.

A well-rested Kucherov returned for the playoffs, registered 32 points in 23 games to help the Lightning gain its second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

Both BriseBois and Zito had remarkable results with players needing a bounceback.

Defenders Oliver Ekman-Larsson in 2024 and Nate Schmidt in 2025 were integral parts of the Cup-winning Panthers team after being brought in at bargain prices by Zito following buyouts by their prior team.

BriseBois had similar experiences with Kevin Shattenkirk, who was bought out by the Rangers after the 2018-19 season  and veteran Zach Bogosian whose contract had been terminated by Buffalo when he refused to report to the minors.

Bogosian and Shattenkirk played key roles in the Lightning’s 2020 Covid-year Cup.

Bogosian moved to Toronto the following season but then returned to Tampa Bay in 2021-22 when they were defeated by Colorado in the Final.

The overall similarity between the two teams is that they are both winners.

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