Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Game preview, predictions and odds

The Florida Panthers are on the road to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Florida (47-30-4) is coming off a 5-3 loss to the Rangers. Tampa Bay (46-26-8) is coming off a 7-4 win over Buffalo.

Panthers vs Lightning: Head-to-head & key stats

Florida is 79-52-10-19 all-time against Tampa Bay
The Panthers are averaging 3.02 goals per game
Tampa Bay is 28-8-4 at home
Florida is allowing 2.69 goals per game
The Lightning are averaging 3.58 goals per game
The Panthers are 20-18-2 on the road
Tampa Bay is allowing 2.63 goals per game

Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Preview

Florida will play its final game of the season here as the team will go on the road to likely play the Lightning in the first round. The Panthers are expected to start Vitek Vanecek, who's 2-3-1 with a 2.66 GAA and a .900 SV% since being traded to Florida. In his career against the Lightning, he's 1-4-2 with a 3.76 GAA and a .864 SV%.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are led by Sam Reinhart, who has 81 points, Aleksandar Barkov with 71 points, Carter Verhaeghe (52 points), and Sam Bennett (51).

Tampa Bay, meanwhile, can still get first place in the Atlantic, but they need to win their final two games and Toronto has to lose its final two. The Lightning are led by Nikita Kucherov with 119 points, Brandon Hagel (90 points), Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point (79 each) and Victor Hedman (64).

The Lightning will start Andrei Vasilevskiy, who's 37-20-5 with a 2.20 GAA and a .920 SV%. In his career against the Panthers, he's 16-15-1 with a 3.06 GAA and a .910 SV%.

Panthers vs Lightning: Odds & Prediction

Florida is a +154 underdog while Tampa Bay is a -185 favorite, and the over/under is set at 5.5 goals.

The Panthers will likely rest players while Tampa Bay still has a slight chance at winning the division, so this is a good spot for the Lightning to get a big win at home.

Tampa Bay will be able to score against Vanecek, who has struggled at times, while Vasilevskiy will shut the door.

Prediction: Lightning 4, Panthers 1.

Panthers vs Lightning: Betting Tips

Tip 1: Tampa Bay ML (-185)

Tip 2: Under 5.5 goals (-105)

Tip 3: Brandon Hagel 3+ shots on goal (+125)

About the author

Cole is an NHL, NFL and College Sports reporter at Sportskeeda with over 7 years of experience writing for publications like CBC, USA Today, SMG, BJPENN, Sherdog and SB Nation.

An NHL fan his whole life, Cole played rep hockey in Canada from age 5 until 17 and grew up rooting for Martin St. Louis and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His all-time favorite players are Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos, while Jon Cooper is his favorite coach of all time.

Cole attended Sheridan College and received his journalism degree in 2019. After decades of watching and reporting, he considers his knowledge of sports as his primary strength. He ensures that the same story has been reported by at least two reputed reporters before creating it.

Cole enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends and family when not reporting breaking stories. His favorite sports moment is from the 2010 Olympics, when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime to beat Team USA for the gold medal.

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Edited by Cole Shelton

Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Game preview, predictions and odds | April 15, 2025

Panthers vs Lightning: Head-to-head & key stats

Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Preview

Panthers vs Lightning: Odds & Prediction

Panthers vs Lightning: Betting Tips