Game 3: How to Watch Lightning at Panthers; Lines, Goalies, Odds

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers should have captain Sasha Barkov in the lineup this afternoon when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Coach Paul Maurice said before the game that Barkov would take warmups.

“He feels good. We think he’s good,’’ Maurice said. “He has to get through it, get his heart rate up. We think he’s good.’’

Barkov left Thursday’s eventual 2-0 win over the Lightning after taking an illegal hit from Brandon Hagel.

On Friday night, the NHL suspended Hagel for one game.

If Barkov cannot go, the Panthers will likely just move Sam Reinhart back with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.

GAME 3: LIGHTNING @ PANTHERS

• How to Watch: Tonight’s game is on local TV and is also being broadcast nationally on TBS and truTV. As usual, the game can be streamed locally on Panthers+ as well as MAX.
• Starting Goalies: The Panthers are going with Sergei Bobrovsky; The Lightning will start Andrei Vasilevskiy.
• NHL Betting Odds: The local book has Florida as a slight favorite (-140) on the money line for the first time this series. If you think the Panthers will win, a $140 bet pays $100.
• Subscribe to the FHN YouTube channel to hear from the Florida Panthers throughout the postseason.

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 3

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Panthers Lead Best-of-7 Series 2-0

• When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• National TV: TBS/truTV
• Streaming: Panthers+, MAX
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM; 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 (-140); Puck line (-1.5, +175); Over/Under 5.5 (-110/-110)
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 6, @ Tampa Bay 2; Game 2: Florida 2, @ Tampa Bay 0; Game 3 at Florida: Saturday, 1 (TBS/Scripps); Game 4 at Florida: Monday, 7 (ESPN/Scripps);Game 5* at Tampa: Wednesday (TBA); Game 6* at Florida: Friday, May 2 (TBA); Game 7* at Tampa: Sunday, May 4 (TBA).
• Regular 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.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (2-0) LINES

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

25 Mackie Samoskevich // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

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

17 Evan Rodrigues // 8 Nico Sturm // 70 Jesper Boqvist

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: A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek, Jaycob Megna, Uvis Balinskis

PROJECTED TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (0-2) LINES

59 Jake Guentzel // 21 Brayden Point // 86 Nikita Kucherov

20 Nick Paul // 71 Anthony Cirelli // 93 Gage Goncalves

14 Conor Geekie // 37 Yanni Gourde // 41 Mitchell Chaffee

28 Zemgus Girgensons // 11 Luke Glendening // 13 Cam Atkinson

77 Victor Hedman // 90 JJ Moser

27 Ryan McDonagh // 81 Erik Cernak

78 Emil Lilleberg // 48 Nick Perbix

88 Andrei Vasilevskiy

31 Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Darren Raddysh

Injured: Oliver Bjorkstrand (lower body)

Suspended: Brandon Hagel

Tampa Bay Lightning Lines Courtesy NHL.com