Panthers Favored to Strike Again Versus the Lightning
After Taking Series Opener, Florida Favored in Game 2: Lightning vs Panthers preview
Is Another Low-Scoring Affair on Tap in Lightning-Panthers Series?
The stars showed up in the series opener between the Sunshine State rivals with Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk as did Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos. After winning Game 1, Florida is favored yet again on home ice, according to the Lightning vs Panthers preview.
This is the third time the Lightning and Panthers will meet in the playoffs in the last four years. Tampa Bay won the previous two series, including a four-game sweep in 2022.
The Lightning was favored in 6 of the last 11 playoff games, but that won’t be the case this time. The road team won all three games between Tampa Bay and Florida during the regular season before Florida won at home in the series opener.
The NHL betting lines have Florida priced at +145 to cover against the puck line as the 1.5-goal favorite with -180 odds for the Lightning to cover. Tampa Bay is priced at +160 to win Game 2 outright.
Florida’s odds to win the series moved from -195 to -405 after the Game 1 win with the Lightning at +325 in the series odds. The winner of this series meets the winner of the Boston-Toronto series in the next stage of the NHL playoff bracket.
Florida is tied for second at +700 in the Stanley Cup betting odds with Tampa Bay 12th at +2800 in the championship odds.
A quick peek at the hockey standings shows that Florida finished 12 points ahead of the Lightning during the regular season as Florida looks to carry that success throughout this series.
Lightning vs Panthers 
Day/Time:
Records: Lightning 45-29-8/Panthers 52-24-6
Location: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL
Streaming: ESPN2
Lightning Looking to Bounce Back in Game 2
The fact that NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov, star defenseman Victor Hedman, and proven playoff point producer Brayden Point were all -2 in the series opener for the Tampa Bay Lightning speaks volumes for how Game 1 played out.
Tampa Bay has enjoyed plenty of success with trips to the Stanley Cup Final in three of the last four seasons. However, the Lightning are 1-5 in the last six playoff games and just 3-5 in the last eight games as the underdog. That is something to consider when looking at the Lightning vs Panthers preview.
Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Anthony Cirelli, Hedman, Erik Černák and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy have been a part of the teams that won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 and fell to Colorado in 2022 in the final series so don’t expect the Lightning to be flustered after losing the series opener on the road.
They could factor into NHL picks and parlays in Game 2.
Just 17 of Tampa Bay’s 42 road games went over the total.
Verhaeghe Does It Again
Florida doesn’t have the playoff pedigree of the Lightning as the Panthers had lost seven of their previous eight playoff series before last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
However, it is still an impressive achievement that Carter Verhaeghe is the all-time leading goal scorer in the playoffs for the Panthers.
Verhaeghe, who began his NHL career with the Lightning, scored two goals in his first 14 playoff games. Since then, he has scored 14 times in 32 contests after putting Florida up 2-1 early in the third period in the series opener.
Florida has won its last 12 playoff games when Verhaeghe has a goal. Ironically, the last time the Panthers lost a game when Verhaeghe scored was against Tampa Bay in 2021. That is something to consider when it comes to the Lightning vs Panthers preview.
Florida is just 15-27 against the spread at home.
Lightning vs Panthers Injury Update
Both hockey teams have their best defensemen back for Game 1 as Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman played 25:24, nearly five minutes more than any other skater for the Lightning Aaron Ekblad was fourth on the Panthers as he played more than 21.5 minutes in the game.
Forwards Luke Glendening and Tyler Motte also returned for Tampa Bay. Forward Logan Brown, defensemen Mikhail Sergachev, and Haydn Fleury are out.
For Florida, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson also returned to the ice.
Lightning vs Panthers Betting Preview
The teams combined for 109 hits but took only five penalties between them. That second number seems likely to increase as hostilities ramp up in this series.
Six of the last seven postseason games between the Lightning and the Panthers have five combined goals or less. It could be more of the same in Game 2.
Tampa Bay needs to find a way to have more than 19 shots on goal with four of those shots coming on the power play.
Florida has won 13 of its last 18 games as the home favorite but has covered in six of those games. Just four of those games went over the total.
Tampa Bay is 6-9-1 in its last 16 games as the road underdog but the Lightning has covered against the puck line in six straight games as the road ‘dog. Four of those matchups finished over the total.
Nine of the last 12 games between the Lightning and the Panthers finished under the total.
Florida is 46-20-2 as the favorite this season while the Lightning posted a 12-16-4 record when listed as the underdog.
The total went over in four of Tampa Bay’s last six games as the underdog. Six of Florida’s last seven games went under the total. The total is set at 5.5 goals in Game 2.
The Lightning are fourth in the NHL in goals per game in April (second to Winnipeg among playoff teams) with 3.78 goals per contest even though the Lightning ranked eighth out of 16 playoff teams in power-play percentage during that time.
In Florida’s last seven games, the Panthers have allowed nine goals with five of the last six games having five or fewer combined goals scored.
The series opener was sitting at 2-1 with three minutes left before things got interesting with a pair of goals. Look for another tight-checking affair so taking the game to finish under 5.5 goals could be the way to proceed.
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