Graphic design: Francisco Oporta & Todd Little

The Florida Panthers (9-7-1) will shoot for their second three-game winning streak of the season when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning (8-6-2) this evening at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida opened a five-game homestand with an exciting 6-3 romp over the Washington Capitals on Thursday that was chalk full of milestones. Brad Marchand assisted on two goals to reach 1,000 points, Evan Rodrigues and Seth Jones each scored their 100th NHL goals, Gustav Forsling collected the 200th point of his career and Daniil Tarasov (37 saves) posted his first win as a Panther. Sam Reinhart was the game’s First Star with two goals and an assist and Finns Luostarinen (1G/2A) and Anton Lundell (3A) also put up three points as the Cats won back-to-back games for the first time in over a month.

The Lightning had won seven of eight before they were soundly beaten 7-3 by the New York Rangers at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday. Scott Sabourin, Zegmus Girgensons and Jake Guentzel scored first period goals to keep it close before the Rangers chased pulled away chasing Andrei Vasilevskiy in the process. Guentzel leads the team in scoring with 16 points and is one four Bolts (Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel are the others) with seven goals.

WHEN: 5 p.m. ET

WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL

ON THE TUBE: Scripps, The Spot

ON THE DIAL: 104.3 WQAM (D/B), 106.3 ESPN West Palm (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)

SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoBolts, #TBLvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook

ENEMY INTEL: Raw Charge

FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 4

LAST MEETING: @TBL 5, FLA 1 (Recap) – 4/15/2025

NEXT MEETING: December 15, 2025

PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (8-4-0 .893 / 2.68 1SO) Tampa Bay: Vasilevskiy (5-5-2 .896 / 2.92 0SO)

PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay

Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

BOSTON (11-8-0 22P) at MONTREAL (10-5-2 22P) 7 p.m.

Los Angeles (9-5-4 22P) at OTTAWA (9-5-4 22P) 7 p.m.

BUFFALO (5-8-4 14P) at DETROIT (10-7-0 20P) 7 p.m.

TORONTO (8-8-2 18P) at Chicago (8-5-4 20P) 7 p.m.