The defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning survived a seven-game series against Toronto and now will face the team with the best record this year, the Florida Panthers who are hosting the opening game of the series at FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL, on May 17, 2022.
Match Details
- Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning
- NHL – Playoffs, Eastern Conference, Second Round, Game 1
- Date – 17/5/2022
- Starting time – 7 PM ET
- Venue: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL
Florida Panthers Stats & Form
The Florida Panthers had an amazing regular season finishing with a 58-18-6 record. They had 122 points, the seventh-most in NHL history.
Anyway, they didn’t have an easy task in the opening Playoff round against the eighth seed Washington Capitals after being 2-1 down and had to win three straight games to advance.
The main reason for that was Florida’s poor power play performance. Florida was 0 for 18 with the man advantage against the Capitals. The only teams that were worse in a postseason since 1978 were Winnipeg (0-28 vs. Detroit in 1996), Los Angeles (0-23 vs. Detroit in 2000), San Jose (0-22 vs. St. Louis in 2001), Calgary (0-21 vs. Chicago in 1996) and Buffalo (0-19 vs. Boston in 2010). All of those teams lost in Round 1.
This was Florida’s first Playoff series win in 26 years.
Anyway, the Playoffs didn’t start well for them as the Panthers has yet to lead in the series against the Capitals. They are coming off a hard-fought 3-2 overtime win on the road that tied the score at 2 games apiece and may prove to be the decisive game in the series.
Florida has a 58-18-6 record overall and a 32-6-0 record on its home ice. The Panthers have scored 337 total goals 4.1 per game to lead the league.
Aleksander Barkov Jr. has 39 goals and 49 assists for the Panthers.
Florida Panthers News
Jonas Johansson and Markus Nutivaara are out for the Panthers for tonight.
Tampa Bay Lightning Stats & Form
The Tampa Bay Lightning came into the playoffs as the fifth seed as they finished the regular season with a 51-23-8 record.
Tampa Bay defeated Florida last year in the opening round of the Playoffs in six games.
The Lightning won a Game 7 in Toronto to extend their hope of trying to become the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders won four in a row from 1980 through 1983.
Tampa Bay has scored on 21.3% of its power plays in franchise playoff history, the best all-time of any team in the NHL. The Lightning were 7 for 33 with the extra skater against Toronto in Round 1.
Tampa Bay Lightning News
Brent Seabrook will not play for Tampa Bay tonight.
Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning Head-to-Head Stats
The Tampa Bay Lightning have won 6 of the last 10 games against the Florida Panthers.
Five of the last ten games between these two have finished over 7.5 goals.
Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Odds
The Florida Panthers are favourites to defeat Tampa Bay with the odds at 100 for their win while the odds for the Lightning to win are at 197. The draw is set at 360.
The total goal margin is 6.5 with -123 for over and 100 for under.
Betting Tip
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions on one side and the Presidents’ Trophy winners on the other. Franchises separated by just a couple hundred miles of highway that don’t like each other. Both teams went through a lot in the opening Playoff round which makes this series even more interesting.
The Florida Panthers had an amazing regular season finishing with a historic record. Anyway, their regular season performance didn’t transfer well to the post season as they needed two overtime wins to go past the Capitals. The defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning were down three times in the series against the Toronto Maple Leafs and their previous postseason experience played a major role in their back-to-back wins which put them through.
The matchup between the two teams from Florida will be unpredictable even though the Panthers are favourites. They were excellent on home ice scoring more than 4.5 goals per game and will open the series with a strong performance winning Game 1.
