Florida Panthers to Face Rival Tampa Bay Lightning in First Round of Playoffs
The Battle of Florida is happening in the playoffs for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
For the fourth time in the past five seasons, the Battle of Florida is happening in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
By virtue of a Toronto Maple Leafs win over the Buffalo Sabres, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are locked into first-round match-up with each other.
Toronto clinched the Atlantic Division title with the victory.
The Panthers won the last meeting between these two teams, defeating Tampa Bay in a five-game first-round series en route to a Stanley Cup.
Tampa Bay won the previous three meetings in 2020, 2021 and 2022 in its run of three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
The Lightning will have home ice, securing a Top 2 seed in the Atlantic Division after the Panthers lost to the New York Rangers on Monday night.
If the results of Tuesday night’s game between the two in-state rivals holds, the Panthers and Lightning will have split their season series in this year’s regular season. Both teams took one win each at home and on the road.
As of the publication of this article, Tampa Bay is leading Florida 4-1 early in the third period of a game where the Panthers are resting Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Gustav Forsling, and Anton Lundell, among others.
The Panthers defeated the Lightning, 4-2, on Dec. 22, when Reinhart scored twice, and 2-1 on March 3, when Barkov scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky turned away 28 off the 29 shots he faced.
Tampa Bay defeated Florida, 4-0, on Dec. 23, when back-up goalie Jonas Johansson picked up a 36-save shutout, and Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman and Anthony Cirelli had two-point nights.
This story will be updated with more information when Florida’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning goes final. For those reading via e-mail, visit PucksAndPalms.com later.