Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers: Game Preview, Predictions, Odds, Betting Tips & more | March 16th 2024

After winning their last two games, the Tampa Bay Lightning are 35-25-6 and sixth in the Eastern Conference. They will face off against the Eastern Conference-leading, 45-18-4 Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday, March 16 at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and HULU.

Florida's recent road performance resulted in a 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 14. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay secured a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders in their outing on the same day.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers: Game preview

Florida has averaged 3.27 goals per game and defensively allowed goals at 2.37 per outing, placing them second overall.

Sam Reinhart has contributed 46 goals and 31 assists, with Carter Verhaeghe closely behind with 30 goals and 36 assists. Matthew Tkachuk has contributed 21 goals and an impressive 53 assists.

Gustav Forsling has provided 25 assists, and Aleksander Barkov 48 assists, while in goal, Sergei Bobrovsky has a solid 32-13-2 record, allowing 109 goals and making 1323 saves, with a 2.32 GAA and a .918 SV%.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning are scoring 3.44 goals per game, with a success rate of 29.4% on their power play opportunities. On the defensive end, the Lightning are conceding 3.36 goals per game.

Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 39 goals, an impressive 73 assists and 112 points. Brandon Hagel has contributed 23 goals and 38 assists, while Brayden Point has netted 36 goals and added 37 assists.

In goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy holds a record of 23-16-1 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers: Head-to-head and significant numbers

• The two teams have clashed 166 times.
• The Panthers are 59-56-8-1 against the Lightning.
• In faceoffs, the Lightning have a 51.4% win rate, while the Panthers have a 51.5% win rate.
• On penalty kills, the Lightning has a 81.0% success rate, while the Panthers are at 82.2%.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers: Odds and prediction

This season, Florida has won 39 out of 53 games as the odds favorite and 18 of 27 games with odds shorter than -171, giving them a 63.1% chance of winning this game.

Conversely, the Lightning have been listed as the underdog 26 times this season and upset their opponents 10 times. Tampa Bay has played with odds of +143 or longer once this season and won that game, which gives them a 41.2% chance of winning this match tonight.

Prediction: Panthers 3 - 2 Lightning.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers: Betting tips

Tip 1: Panthers to win.

Tip 2: Total goals over 5: Yes.

Tip 3: Brayden Point to score anytime: Yes.

Tip 4: Nikita Kucherov to score first: Yes.

Tip 5: Lightning to beat the spread: Yes.