Graphic design: Todd Little & Francisco Oporta

The Florida Panthers (29-24-3) and Tampa Bay Lightning (36-14-4) will tussle for the final time this regular season at Benchmark International Arena in the last night of NHL action before the three-week break for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Florida blew a two-goal third period lead, but still managed to end its four-game losing streak with a nail-biting 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins last night. Anton Lundell (1G/2A), Matthew Tkachuk (1G/1A) and Uvis Balinskis (1G/1A) had multi-point games and Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring with an unassisted goal. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots, including 12 of the high-danger variety, to collect his 450th NHL win. The Cats have recalled defenseman Mikulas Hovorka from Charlotte.

The Lightning followed up its thrilling 6-5 shootout win over the Bruins in Sunday’s Stadium Series clash with a hard-fought 4-3 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Nikita Kucherov, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Darren Raddysh scored in regulation and Jake Guentzel bagged the game-winner with 15 seconds left in the extra stanza. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves to help the red-hot Bolts stay atop the Eastern Conference standings.

WHEN: 7 p.m. ET

WHERE: Benchmark International Arena – Tampa, FL

ON THE TUBE: ESPN+, Hulu

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

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

ENEMY INTEL: Raw Charge

FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 4 of 4 (1-2)

LAST MEETING: TBL 4, FLA 2 (Recap) – 12/27/2025

NEXT MEETING: Playoffs or 2026-27 regular season

PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Tarasov (8-7-2 .904 / 2.67 0SO) Tampa Bay: Vasilevskiy (26-7-3 .918 / 2.14 1SO)

PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay

Thursday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)

Pittsburgh (28-15-12 68P) at BUFFALO (32-18-6 70P) 7 p.m.

OTTAWA (27-22-7 61P) at Philadelphia (25-20-10 60P) 7 p.m.

Idle: MON (72P), DET (72P), BOS (69P), TOR (63P)