Florida will look to maintain their recent momentum and leapfrog their rivals from Tampa in a crucial divisional showdown.
The Florida Panthers will be looking to hit the ground running now that the NHL’s annual holiday break has ended.
December has been Florida’s strongest month so far this season, with the Cats entering the pause on an 8-2-1 run.
Their strong stretch has been quite beneficial on Florida’s place in the tightly-packed Eastern Conference standings, propelling them from dead last a few weeks ago to their current spot, the second Wild Card position and within striking distance of the top spots in the Atlantic Division.
On Saturday, the Panthers will face one of the teams holding a divisional playoff spot in the Atlantic: their cross-state rivals from Tampa Bay.
Unlike Florida, the Lightning have had a tougher time finding success during the month of December.
A big reason why was the loss of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for several weeks due to an undisclosed injury.
Missing one of the league’s top netminders, combined with key players Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel being placed on Injured Reserve and several other regulars battling ailments, saw the Bolts endure a 2-6-1 stretch that they’re just starting to leave in the rearview mirror.
With Vasilevskiy back in the mix, Tampa picked up wins in each of their final two games before the holiday break.
This will be the third of four regular season meetings between Florida and Tampa.
So far, each team has picked up two points in the other’s barn, with the Lightning beating Florida 3-1 in Sunrise back in mid-November and then the Cats striking back with a 5-2 victory in Tampa 12 days ago.
Looking back at the standings, this game could create some changes in the divisional pecking order depending how things turn out.
Should Florida pick up two points in any fashion, they’ll jump over Tampa and move into third place in the Atlantic.
The Cats will be hoping to get young forward Mackie Samoskevich back in the lineup after the sophomore sat out Florida’s final two games before the pause due to a lower-body injury.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Saturday’s battle with the Bolts:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Noah Gregor – Luke Kunin
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry
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Photo caption: Dec 15, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Jake Guentzel (59) and Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola (77) exchange shoves in the third period at Benchmark International Arena. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)