Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for March 3 Game vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Seth Jones will make his Florida Panthers debut against the in-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning.
FORT LAUDERDALE — Seth Jones was excited enough when he got the call that he was getting traded to the Florida Panthers.
Now, he gets to insert himself into one of the NHL’s hottest rivalries immediately as he makes his Panthers debut in ‘The Battle of Florida’ against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It definitely adds to it,” Jones said. “I think if you watch every single game that Florida and Tampa play each other, it’s like a war out there. Both teams are trying to prove a point every time the play each other.“
The Lightning are rivals he is going to have to get used to seeing.
Jones is under contract until 2030, making him part of a Panthers core that is searching for its second consecutive Stanley Cup and its third-straight Cup Final appearance.
The Panthers played the Lightning in the playoffs three times in the past four years, defeating them in the first round before lifting the Stanley Cup in 2024. Tampa Bay beat Florida in Round 1 in 2021 en route to a Cup and Round 2 in 2022 en route to a Cup Final loss to Colorado.
All told, the Panthers and Lightning have accounted for three of the past five Stanley Cups and each of the past five Eastern Conference titles.
“They’ve obviously had playoff match-ups, but in the regular season, it does matter. You want to beat them hard, you want to show the other team that you’re there and in their face. It’s definitely a heightened kind of energy. I’m sure I’ll feel a heightened hatred towards Tampa and I’m excited that this is the first game on this stage.”
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Florida Panthers.
Seth Jones will begin his Panthers career on the second pairing alongside Niko Mikkola. He will also quarterback the second power play unit that features Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen.
Florida’s top power play unit will consist of Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov and Mackie Samoskevich.
Tonight’s game will start at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on Scripps Sports and Panthers Plus. Out-of-market viewers in the United States can stream the game on ESPN+.
For more information on how to catch Panthers games this season, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Presented by William Raveis Real Estate
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich — Sam Bennett — Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Chris Driedger
Scratched: Uvis Balinskis
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (LTIR)
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING PROJECTED LINEUP
Jake Guentzel — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Zemgus Girgensons
Mitchell Chaffee — Nick Paul — Gage Concalves
Michael Eyssimont — Luke Glendenning — Nick Perbix
Victor Hedman — J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg — Darren Raddysh
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
(Lines via DailyFaceoff.com)
*Opposing team lines subject to change.