Panthers at Lightning, Game 4: Florida Ready for a Fight in Tampa

.TAMPA — The Florida Panthers know they are going to have a fight on their hands today when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5.

Coach Paul Maurice does not want to talk about the possibility of a series sweep, figuring the ego of the champion Lightning is bruised enough.

Tampa Bay has not been swept in a playoff series since 2019.

Speaking of Sergei Bobrovsky, the former Columbus goalie will be in net for Florida today.

Tampa Bay’s starting goalie will again by Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Florida will be going for its second playoff sweep in its past three series.

Coach Paul Maurice said on Friday that Ryan Lomberg was still not over his illness and would not play in Game 4.

With the way the fourth line played Thursday, Maurice was not planning on making any sort of a change, anyway.

Florida, as expected, will run with its same lineup for Game 4.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (WC1) VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS (ATL1)

PANTHERS LEAD BEST-OF-7 SERIES 3-0

GAME 4

• When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa 
• Local TV/National TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida/TBS/TruTV/HBOMax
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-125); Puck line (-1.5, +185); Over/Under 6.5 (+100/-125). Series Florida -5000
• First Round (Panthers Lead 3-0) — Game 1: Panthers 3, Lightning 2; Game 2: Florida 3, Tampa Bay 2 OT; Game 3: Panthers 5, Lightning 3; Game 4: Saturday at Tampa Bay, 5 (BSF, TBS, TruTV); Game 5*: Monday at Florida, TBA (BSF, TBA); Game 6*: Wednesday at Tampa Bay, TBA (BSF, TBA); Game 7*: Saturday May 4 at Florida, TBA (BSF, TBA). (*) — If necessary
• 2023-24 Regular Season Series (Panthers Won 2-1) — At Tampa Bay: Panthers 3, Lightning 2 (Dec. 27); Panthers 9, Lightning 2 (Feb. 17). At Florida: Lightning 5, Panthers 3 (March 16).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 77-51-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Lightning Leads 2-0 (2021 first-round, 2022 ECS)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (3-0) LINES

10 Vladimir Tarasenko // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 15 Anton Lundell // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 17 Evan Rodrigues

21 Nick Cousins // 18 Steven Lorentz // 8 Kyle Okposo

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola //  62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Jonah Gadjovich, Josh Mahura, Toby Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Evan Cormier

Injured: Ryan Lomberg (illness), Sam Bennett (upper-body)

PROJECTED TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (0-3) LINES

10 Anthony Duclair // 21 Brayden Point //86 Nikita Kucherov

38 Brandon Hagel // 71 Anthony Cirelli // 91 Steven Stamkos

23 Michael Eyssimont //20 Nick Paul // 41 Mitchell Chaffee

64 Tyler Motte // 11 Luke Glendening

77 Victor Hedman // 43 Darren Raddysh

48 Nick Perbix // 81 Erik Cernak

78 Emil Lilleberg // 24 Matt Dumba // 44 Calvin deHaan

88 Andrei Vasilevskiy 

90 Matt Tomkins

Scratched: Austin Watson, Calvin de Haan, Conor Sheary, Max Crozier

Injured: Haydn Fleury (upper body), Jonas Johansson (lower body), Mikhail Sergachev (leg)

Tampa Bay Lightning Lines Courtesy NHL.com