TAMPA – The Florida Panthers will try to extend their win streak on the road to 11 games when they battle the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Over the course of the streak, Florida has outscored its opponents 42-16.
“They play with an awful lot of speed through the middle of the ice, and their goaltender is clearly capable of winning a hockey game for them,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the Bolts. “I think what makes them the challenge that they are is that they’ve won Stanley Cups. They know how to play hard and know how important every shift it.”
Sitting at 35-15-4, the Panthers, who lead the NHL with 19 wins on the road, moved into a tie with Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 win at Buffalo on Thursday.
Picking up right where Sergei Bobrovsky left off with his 25-save performance in a 5-2 win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Anthony Stolarz stood on his head for the Panthers in the second half of the back-to-back in Buffalo, stopping all 45 shots that he faced to blank the Sabres.
Providing Stolarz with more than enough goal support, Carter Verhaeghe scored a pair of goals, while Anton Lundell and Ryan Lomberg each netted one. Winning eight of their last nine games overall, the Panthers have scored at least four goals in six of those contests.
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in goals (39), power-play goals (22) and points (65). Nipping at his heels on the team’s scoring leaderboard, Matthew Tkachuk has posted 60 points (18 goals, 42 assists), including an NHL-leading 33 points in 18 games since Jan. 1.
Lighting the lamp four times in his last five games, Verhaeghe, who won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020, ranks second on the Panthers in goals (28) and third in points (55). Sitting fourth in scoring, Aleksander Barkov has registered 53 points (12 goals, 41 assists).
Aaron Ekblad will miss tonight’s game due to a lower-body injury. Maurice said the top-pair defenseman is currently considered day-to-day. In his place, Josh Mahura, who’s tallied five assists in 19 games this season, will slot back into the lineup for the first time since Jan. 22.
Tied for first in the NHL with 12 road wins, Bobrovsky will man the crease tonight. Owning a 26-10-2 record, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner has backstopped Florida to wins in each of his last five starts while turning aside 146 of 154 shots for a stellar .948 save percentage.
“I think just continue to play our game,” Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said of the keys to tonight’s game. “If we keep doing what we do best, we’ll continue to have success.”
In third place in the Atlantic Division at 30-20-5, the Lightning have won each of their last three games, including a 6-3 drubbing of the Avalanche in their last outing on Thursday.
Tied 2-2 after two periods, the Lightning scored four goals in the third period to pull away from Colorado. Five different skaters touched twine for Tampa Bay in the win, with Nikita Kucherov, who’s making a strong case for the Hart Trophy, leading the way with two goals.
Leading the NHL in scoring with a whopping 93 points (36 goals, 57 assists), Kucherov has accumulated 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) during his current nine-game point streak.
“He has this incredible ability to disappear on a play,” Maurice said. “You have a heavy scrum in the corner, then you don’t know where he’s gone and he’s standing on the back post and it’s in the back of your net. Handling him and speed off the rush is important.”
After Kucherov, four other Lightning players have logged at least 50 points so far this season: Brayden Point (56), Victor Hedman (53), Brandon Hagel (51) and Steven Stamkos (50).
Fueling the offense, Tampa Bay leads the NHL with a 30.4% success rate on the power play.
Over the last four games, they’ve scored four goals with the extra attacker.
For Florida’s sixth-ranked penalty kill (83.2%), tonight’s tilt will offer a tough test.
“These games are edgy, which means there’s going to be some penalties,” Maurice said. “They’ve got a number-one power play. At the end of the day, I think their power play is about one goal better every 10 games than ours. Both teams have good special teams.”
Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to get the nod in net for the Lightning. Sitting at 19-11-0 with a .903 save percentage, the “Big Cat” has putting up strong numbers in recent weeks, winning 10 of his last 12 starts while stopping 314 of 343 shots (.915%).
The second installment of the Sunshine State Showdown this season, the Panthers edged the Lightning 3-2 in their first meeting back on Dec. 27 at Tampa Bay. In the hard-fought win, Reinhart scored two goals, Barkov dished out three assists and Bobrovsky made 27 saves.
In their last six games against Tampa Bay, the Panthers own a 4-1-1 record.
“I would assume today is probably going to be another chippy one,” Rodrigues said. “It’s always fun playing in rivalry games.”
PREGAME QUOTES
“This game will be incredibly fast here tonight. The first five minutes are important because we couldn’t skate yesterday and today just based on the game time. Getting up to speed is critical.” – Paul Maurice
“The success we're having as a team this year is trumping all the individual accolades that guys on the team are having. As a whole, we're just having a blast. It's awesome coming to the rink every day. It’s an awesome group of guys and I think we’re just having a lot of fun playing hockey right now." – Evan Rodrigues
FIVE CATS STATS
- Since Dec. 23, the Panthers lead the NHL in wins (17) and points (36).
- The Panthers are allowing a league-low 2.14 goals per game on the road.
- Sergei Bobrovsky’s 12 road wins are tied for the most in the NHL.
- Gustav Forsling leads Florida and ranks third in the NHL with a +35 plus/minus rating.
- Anton Lundell is one point away from his 100th in the NHL.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Evan Rodrigues
Jonah Gadjovich – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Saturday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. ET
Where: Amalie Arena – Tampa, FL
TV & Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports+
Radio: 790 WAXY (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Watch Party: Funky Buddha in Oakland Park
