Playoff intensity percolating as Lightning host Panthers

It will not be a playoff game Wednesday night when the Florida Panthers and host Tampa Bay Lightning meet for the first time this season, but the in-state rivals will likely bring a postseason intensity and immediacy to the match on Florida's Gulf Coast.

As the season nears the halfway point, the Atlantic Division clubs occupy two of the Eastern Conference's eight playoff slots: Third-place Florida, with two games in hand, owns a one-point lead over its biggest foe, the Lightning.

That would suggest there definitely could be the kind of physicality found in a playoff game Wednesday, but the Panthers have already revisited that scenario.

In Saturday's brutally one-sided battle in Sunrise, Fla., against the club they lost to over the summer in the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers won for just the second time in six games (2-4-0), getting a form of payback over the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 to cap play before the Christmas break.

Two physical incidents showed the intensity in a lopsided matchup in which Florida once held a 33-8 shot advantage.

Midway through the first period, Ryan Lomberg had a one-punch knockout of Vegas' Keegan Kolisar, who injured the Panthers' pesky star forward Matthew Tkachuk on a clean hit in Game 3 on June 8.

"Credit to him for kind of letting me get redemption for last year," said Lomberg, who had a hand injury and could not fight in June. "He's the guy that caught (Tkachuk) to take him out of the series. He gave me a chance to even the score."

In the middle of the third, Tkachuk skated in backward and hip-checked Vegas forward Paul Cotter, who responded by grabbing the Florida right winger and throwing him down to create a Panthers power play.

"It had a little bit of a playoff feel to that game," said Sam Bennett, who scored his fifth goal. "It was an intense game. Lots of hitting and physical play."

Sporting a season-long-tying three-game winning streak, the Lightning are rolling after going 2-3-0 on their recent five-game road swing out West.

In their first three-win run, they were victorious in consecutive games against the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins from Nov. 16-20.

After outscoring the St. Louis Blues and Vegas 11-5 over two home wins last week, they went to Washington and beat the Capitals 2-1 in their first shootout of the season on Saturday night.

Brayden Point and Victor Hedman (game-deciding goal) tallied in the one-on-one session.

Though Florida has emerged as a playoff regular the past four seasons, its Sunshine State brethren have had the upper hand on the ice.

Since the 2020-21 playoffs, Tampa Bay holds a 15-10-1 mark and eliminated the Panthers in both of their postseason series — in six games in 2020-21 and a four-game sweep the following campaign.

"Up and down," Hedman said of his team's performance through 35 outings. "The last three games I think we've really turned it on and focused more on simplifying the game and not making it harder on ourselves.

"When we do that, we're a good team."

The 2018 Norris Trophy winner, Hedman has 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) over his past 17 games.

NHL point leader Nikita Kucherov is a single goal away from 300, while coach Jon Cooper has 497 career wins, all behind the Lightning bench.

—Field Level Media