Improving to 13-10-4, the Panthers are coming off a convincing 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings in Sunrise on Thursday. Chris Tierney, Eetu Luostarinen, Josh Mahura, Matt Kiersted and Matthew Tkachuk all scored in the win, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 of 20 shots.
After Tierney opened the scoring with a beauty of a backhand in the first period, the Panthers added four more goals in the second -- their most goals in a single period this season -- to pull away from the Red Wings and cruise to their third win in the last four games.
"It's a real challenge coming back from the West Coast and playing the next day," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "We've had two of them now and played very well in both. I think tonight was really a continuation. Three of our last four [games] have been really strong."
Cracking the scoresheet in 20 of 25 games, Tkachuk leads the Panthers and ranks tied for sixth in the NHL with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists). Second to Tkachuk on the team's leaderboard, sniper Carter Verhaeghe has racked up 24 points, including scoring a team-leading 15 goals.
Providing the Panthers with a boost against Detroit, captain Aleksander Barkov notched an assist in his first game back after missing the previous six contests with a non-COVID illness.
"It was awesome," Tkachuk said of Barkov, who has tallied 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in 20 games. "He just settles everything down for us and changes our team completely. He's not only the best player on our team, but one of the best in the league. Getting a guy like that back is huge for us."
Sitting at 16-9-1, the Lightning hold a three-point lead over the Panthers for third place in the Atlantic Division. Winning nine of their last 12 games, Tampa Bay secured a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators in their last outing behind a two-goal performance from Brayden Point.
Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning in scoring with 38 points (11 goals, 27 assists), while Steven Stamkos is second in points (32) and first in goals (14). On a run of milestones, Stamkos, who recently surpassed 1,000 points and 500 assists in his career, is five goals shy of 500.
Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy has posted a 10-8-1 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Settling down after a bumpy start to the season, the former Vezina Trophy winner has gone 3-2-0 with a .927 save percentage over his last five starts.
With both squads strong at 5-on-5, the Panthers rank fourth in the NHL with a 56.16 xGF%, while the Lightning aren't far behind in sixth with a 53.46 xGF%, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
Overall, Florida owns a 2-0-2 record over its last four trips to Tampa Bay.
