These two teams got the season off to a high scoring start on Thursday with the Lightning winning 5-2 in Tampa. They’ll now rematch in South Florida on Saturday night. Sergei Bobrovsky has been confirmed to make his second start in the Panthers’ net and the expectation is that he’ll once again be opposed by Tampa Bay’s top goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tampa Bay is out to prove that last season’s performance wasn’t a fluke. Or at the very least, that they can carry some of their regular season excellence into the playoffs. The Lightning romped to a league best 62-16-4 128 points record last year only to get blindsided by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the postseason. The Jackets did the unthinkable by sweeping the Presidents Cup Champions and put a damper on the Bolts’ regular season accomplishments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida finished 12 points out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference and that brought about some major changes. Roberto Luongo retired and Bobrovsky was signed to take over his spot as the franchise goaltender. The biggest move came off the ice with the hiring of former Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. Quenneville is the winningest coach in NHL history not named ‘Scotty Bowman’ and the hope was that he could give the Panthers a quick turnaround into a playoff level team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the opening game, however, it looked like business as usual. Tampa Bay has dominated head to head play with their in-state rivals. The Lightning have now won 7 straight games against the Panthers–Florida’s last win came in October 2017. Tampa Bay has won 8 of the last 9 against Florida including 3 of the last 4 on the Panthers’ home ice. The Lightning have a tough schedule coming up playing five straight on the road–after today’s game they’ll play at Carolina tomorrow, at Toronto on Thursday, at Ottawa next Saturday and at Montreal on Tuesday, October 15. The scheduling is a bit awkward as well with a pair of back to back games followed by a 4 day hiatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it ‘ain’t broke don’t fix it’. With a new coach and new personnel, Florida could take some time to gel. The Lightning should continue their mastery of the Panthers here with another high scoring contest as 8 of the last 9 and 4 straight in South Florida have gone ‘Over’ the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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