Panthers battle rival Lightning, aiming to boost playoff hopes and enter Olympic break on a high note after several injured players returned.
The Florida Panthers are hoping to go into the NHL’s Olympic break on a high.
Florida picked up a 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night and will complete a pre-pause back-to-back set when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Thursday’s game will be the fourth and final regular season matchup between the cross-state rivals.
So far, the Lightning have won twice in Sunrise while the Panthers picked up two points in their only other trip to the Treasure Coast back in December.
It’s been a much better season for the Bolts than the Cats, despite both teams having to maneuver serious injury issues.
Entering play Thursday, Tampa is tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the top spot in the Eastern Conference but takes the tiebreaker on both wins and games played.
Florida, meanwhile, sadly sits eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Boston doesn’t play again until after the Olympic break, so Florida can pull within six games of the Bruins with a win on Thursday.
The Panthers received a big boost to their lineup on Wednesday when injured forwards Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell all suited up for the Cats.
A healthy Florida squad will go a long way toward the Panthers making a run at crashing the playoff party.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Thursday’s tussle in Tampa:
Carter Verhaeghe – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
A.J. Greer – Evan Rodrigues – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Cole Schwindt – Mackie Samoskevich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Uvis Balinskis
Tobias Bjornfot – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Feb 4, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) speaks to defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) against the Boston Bruins during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)