Panthers: 37-14-5, 79 points
Lightning: 36-17-3, 75 points
Season series: FLA 5-2-1; TBL 3-5-0
Game 1: Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, BSFL, BSSUN, SN, TVAS)
The Panthers and Lightning will make history with the first all-Florida matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Lightning are the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Panthers haven't won a playoff series since 1996, when they lost the Stanley Cup Final. They were eliminated in four games by the New York Islanders last season in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"We know them pretty well and they know us pretty well," Panthers center Aleksander Barkov said. "It's going to be a battle."
The Panthers and Lightning combined for 154 penalty minutes with four fighting majors, 10 misconduct penalties and six roughing minors in Florida's 5-1 win at home Saturday, the next-to-last game of the regular season for each. They averaged 41:59 in penalty minutes in their eight games against each other in the Discover Central Division.
"There's no secrets," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "You know the players, and we've played them so many times it's almost -- I don't want to say it's easier, because nothing in the playoffs is ever easy -- but I think guys know what to expect a lot more."
The Panthers, who won the final three games against the Lightning by a combined 14-4, enter the series having won six in a row and 11 of 14 since April 13 (11-2-1).
The Lightning should be getting reinforcements with forwards
Nikita Kucherov
and Steven Stamkos expected to join the lineup after recovring from injury.
Kucherov, who led the NHL with 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in the playoffs last season, didn't play this regular season while recovering from hip surgery he had Dec. 29. He's been skating and a full participant in practice, and the plan was always for him to be ready for the start of the playoffs.
Stamkos, out since April 8, missed the last 16 games with a lower-body injury. At the time of his injury, he led the Lightning with 17 goals and was tied for second with 34 points.
Tampa Bay is also hoping for the return of defensemen Victor Hedman (lower body) and Ryan McDonagh (upper body), and forward Ondrej Palat (lower body). The defensemen each missed the past two games. Palat missed a 4-0 loss at Florida on Monday.
"They've got a couple aces coming back that haven't been in their lineup recently that are going to add a lot, a lot of skill to their lineup, special teams as well," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "So we've got to be better than we've been. and I think welcoming that challenge is where we've got to go to, and that's where we're heading."
