Sunshine Showdown: Panthers, Lightning a Rivalry Worth Savoring

Unless you have been out of the state the past few years, you know that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have developed into a natural and very fierce rivalry through three recent postseason series.

Tonight in Tampa, a new chapter begins when the Panthers visit the Lightning in Game 1.

It is the fourth time in the past five years that the Panthers and Lightning have met in the playoffs.

The winner of the previous three showdowns between the two Florida teams has gone on to play for the Stanley Cup.

It wasn’t until recent years that both teams were good at the same time.

Now that both are two of the NHL’s elite, it has set the stage for one of the most intense rivalries in sports.

Either the Panthers or Lightning have played for the Stanley Cup in each of the past five years; Tampa Bay has won it twice, Florida once.

The Panthers are the defending champions.

Neither team likes one another all that much although there is, as coach Paul Maurice said, respect on both sides.

“Both are veteran teams who want it,” Maurice said. “We both know how hard it is to have success in the playoffs.”

THE FIRST SUNSHINE SHOWDOWN

The Panthers and Lightning played in the postseason for the first time in 2021 coming out of a Covid-shortened season.

That series was helped along by the fact that Florida and Tampa Bay met for the final two games of the regular seasons.

Eight consecutive games with two bitter rivals are not good for the peacemaking process.

Because of Covid, the NHL was aligned geographically. The Panthers and Lightning met eight times in the regular season before the six playoff matches.

The series opened in Sunrise with the Lightning winning 5-4 on a late goal by Brayden Point.

The Lightning took a 2-0 lead, beating Chris Driedger — who had replaced Sergei Bobrovsky in goal — 3-1 with the final goal going into an empty net.

Tempers started flaring late in the game with Ryan Lomberg taking a game misconduct for joining a battle in progress.

Lomberg became a hero in a wild and crazy Game 3 in Tampa won by the Panthers 6-5.

Bobrovsky relieved starter Driedger after he relinquished five second-period goals. Patric Hornqvist and Gus Forsling scored in the third, setting the stage for Lomberg’s overtime winner.

Radko Gudas scored the opening goal, the only playoff goal of his entire career.

Tampa Bay won Game 4 in a rout, the Lightning chasing Bobrovsky in a 6-2 win that featured 92 minutes in penalties.

Rookie Spencer Knight, not long after he left Boston College, started Game 5 in Sunrise, getting a 4-1 win.

The thrill of victory was short lived.

The Lightning punished Florida in Game 6. With Knight back in goal and Bobrovsky again in the press box, Tampa Bay rolled to a 4-0 win and moved on.

THE PRESIDENTS’ TROPHY SWEEP

The two teams met again in 2022 with the Panthers being favored to move on.

Florida had won the Presidents’ Trophy and won a playoff series — it beat the Capitals in 6 thanks to Carter Verhaeghe’s scoring run — since 1996.

Although the series was hard-fought, the Panthers were outscored 13-3 in Tampa Bay’s four-game sweep.

The turning point came in Game 3 when Ross Colton scored with four seconds remaining, giving the Lightning a 3-0 stranglehold on the series.

It was no contest after that.

Tampa Bay dominated Florida in the deciding Game 4 to close out the sweep.

Afterward, the Panthers went through some big-league changes.

General manager Bill Zito remade the identity of the team, replacing coach Andrew Brunette with Maurice during the summer.

A few weeks after hiring Maurice, Zito pulled off a blockbuster trade and acquired Mathew Tkachuk from Calgary in exchange for leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau, top defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, a prospect and a first-round draft pick.

It was a controversial move which was not very popular with a large segment of the fanbase, but history proved it to be a good move.

The addition of Tkachuk changed the culture of the team.

In 2023, Tkachuk was a force in the playoffs and helped the Panthers beat Boston, Toronto and Carolina en route to the Stanley Cup Final.

PANTHERS ‘SLAY THE DRAGON’

In 2024, the Panthers and Lightning met up in the first round once again.

The Panthers won in 5, but every game was close.

Game 1 was a tight contest which featured an empty-net goal by Tkachuk in the closing minutes, followed by a Steven Stamkos goal to close the gap again.

Verhaeghe won Game 2 in overtime.

The Panthers took a 3-0 lead with a 5-3 win in Game 3 which was helped along by some fourth-line heroics.

After losing Game 4 in Tampa, the Panthers returned home and got a pair of goals from both Verhaeghe and Sasha Barkov to throttle the Lightning 6-1.

The Panthers had finally beaten the Lightning when it counted — something the team felt it needed to do to reach heights it had never reached before.

“When there is one team that always kind of beats you in the playoffs, both times in similar situations where we had home-ice advantage, you want to beat them, get over that hump,” Barkov said.

“We respected them. They have been unbelievable in past years. … There is a lot to learn from that team and that organization. So, it definitely feels great now to be able to beat them.’’

This time around, the Panthers will be starting on the road.

For the first time in the playoffs, when it comes to the Lightning and Panthers, Tampa Bay has home-ice advantage to kick things off.

“It will feel at times that you’re under siege,’’ Maurice said.

“Everything that goes towards your net brings an energy from the home crowd, and that’s the emotional advantage that the home team gets. We get it here. It’s still a factor but we’ve had experience dealing with that.”

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 1

FLORIDA PANTHERS at TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 

• When: Tuesday, 8:30 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+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1 at Tampa: Tuesday, 8:30; Game 2 at Tampa: Thursday, 6:30; Game 3 at Florida: Saturday, 1; Game 4 at Florida: Monday, April 28 (TBA); Game 5* at Tampa: Wednesday, April 30 (TBA); Game 6* at Florida: Friday, May 2 (TBA); Game 7* at Tampa: Sunday, May 4 (TBA).
• Season Series (Tied 2-2)
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-53-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Tampa Bay Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.