After picking up five of eight possible points during their four-game roadtrip, the Tampa Bay Lightning return to Benchmark International Arena to kick off a four-game homestand against their in-state rival, the Florida Panthers.
The Lightning defeated Florida on the road during the 2025-26 season’s first Battle of Florida, now, the Lightning will host the Panthers for the first time this season. Regardless of the result, the losing team won’t have to wait long to wait for revenge, as the two teams will face off again in 12 days, but that time the game will take place in Sunshine.
Nikita Kucherov and Sam Bennett lead their respective teams in points over the last five games, with eight apiece. Meanwhile, Carter Verhaege leads the Panthers in goals over that stretch with four. Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh leads his team in that regard, also with four goals in five games.
Both teams are missing key players heading into this matchup, as the Panthers’ star center Aleksander Barkov will be out for the majority of the season after tearing his ACL during training camp. Florida is also without star winger Matthew Tkachuk who underwent surgery during the offseason and is projected to return around the beginning of 2026.
As for the Lightning, Andrei Vasilevskiy is reportedly close to returning, but still remains on the injured reserve for the time being. Victor Hedman was placed back on the injured reserve after picking up an elbow injury shortly after returning from injury. Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, and Emil Lilleberg are also out of the lineup for Jon Cooper’s side.
Lightning Lines (Per Benjamin Pierce):
Hagel – Cirelli – Kucherov
Guentzel – Point – Bjorkstrand
Girgensons – Gourde – Holmberg
Douglas – Paul – Sabourin
Moser – Raddysh
D’Astous – Crozier
Carlile – Santini
Johansson
Panthers Lines (Per Rob Darragh):
Luostarinen – Lundell – Reinhart
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Marchand
Samoskevich – Rodrigues – Greer
Gregor – Studnicka – Boqvist
Forsling – Ekblad
Mikkola – Jones
Balinskis – Petry
Bobrovsky
