Battle of Florida finale Panthers vs Lightning
- Dan Carlin
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning take on Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers for the last time in the 2025-2026 regular season. The Lightning enter Thursday night’s game off a 4-3 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres . The Panthers enter on a back to back win against the Boston Bruins in a shootout. The Lightning are currently 36-14-4 on the season in 1st place of the Atlantic Division. The Panthers are 29-24-3 on the season placing them in 7th place of the Atlantic Division.
As I previously mentioned this will the season finale between both of these teams. The Lightning are 2-1 against the Panthers this season. This rivalry has always been nasty which brings in so much attention from hockey fans across the country. I’m not a big fan of the Panthers playstyle because in my opinion, its a scumbag mentality to intentionally injure someone every game you have them on their schedule.
The Panthers have made it a habit to make sure Lightning forward Brandon Hagel doesn’t finish the hockey game. So a quick history last season, Hagel was suspended for delivering a hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov in the playoffs which in my opinion is not suspendable considering players are hit all the time just like the Barkov situation. Now the Panthers would get revenge in part one of this whole situation with Aaron Ekblad intentionally knocking out Brandon Hagel.
The Hagel story would carry over to the preseason of this year when cement head AJ Greer of the Florida Panthers intentionally crosschecked Hagel in the face leading to no discipline from the NHL.
Now the Lightning would respond to this with Scott Sabourin delivering a hit on Ekblad the very next game and I believe he knocked him out. Now the Florida Panthers broadcast was saying on live TV he shouldn’t even be playing . However it’s perfectly fine to target a player from a situation that happened last season. The Hagel thing would continue into the regular season where Seth Jones intentionally elbowed Hagel in the head causing him to leave yet another game against the Florida Panthers.
The Hagel thing would continue into the regular season where Seth Jones intentionally elbowed Hagel in the head causing him to leave yet another game against the Florida Panthers. On this one Jones elbow is already extended before Hagel even enters the zone. You can’t even say that’s accidental contact and and there was discipline from the NHL. The Panthers assistant general manager Gregory Campbell is the son of higher Colin so how fitting youve got your father protecting you at all times when it comes discipline. As I’m writing this blog a thug on the Florida Panthers just delivers a headshot on Bruins defenseman Charlie Mcavoy. I highly doubt there will be any discipline from the league.
Both teams will be missing some significant players in this game before the Olympic Games start next week.
The Lightning will be without the following players:
Brayden Point (Lower Body)
Anthony Cirelli (Upper Body)
Nick Paul (Lower Body)
Charle Edourard D’Astous (Lower Body)
The Panthers will be without the following players :
Aleksander Barkov (Lower Body)
Dmitry Kulikov (Upper Body)
Jonah Gadjovich (Upper Body)
Seth Jones (Upper Body)
The Goaltending should be different due to the Panthers back to back tonight against the Bruins. Andrei Vasilevskiy should get the start against the Panthers. Vasilevskiy enters with a 26-7 record on the season with a .918 save percentage and a 2.14 goals against average. The Panthers should have Daniil Tarasov in net with a 8-7 record on the season with a .904 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average.
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