The Florida Panthers faced their hockey neighbors to the north on Monday night in Sunrise.

It was the third of four meetings this season between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, and both teams have been playing some excellent hockey of late.

The Lightning arrived at Amerant Bank Arena riding an 8-game winning streak and a 9-0-1 mark over their past 10, while Florida had a similarly strong 8-2-0 record over the same span.

Adding to the mix that the Cats and Bolts were separated by only three points in the standings for second and third in the Atlantic Division, there was some weight that came with the game.

Let’s get to the takeaways:

TIGHT GAME BETWEEN BITTER RIVALS

There have been many occasions over the past several seasons where a game between the Panthers and Lightning leads to explosive fireworks.

Whether that plays out on the scoreboard or in the penalty box, it’s usually quite entertaining for the fans watching.

While Monday’s matchup between the cross-state rivals was certainly entertaining, it wasn’t due to any particular fireworks.

This one felt more like a playoff game, which would make sense as we enter March and start looking ahead toward the postseason.

Well, the two teams came in kind of in the same spot,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “They both have got a whole bunch of wins, and they've been doing it the same way. Their defensive numbers in the last month and a half have been good, just like ours. It was a tight game at times, and then it just broke open to a big, huge chance, and then the goaltenders, right?”

JONES COMES UP BIG ON PK

There were moments throughout Monday’s game where Seth Jones showed why he was so coveted by the Panthers.

His instincts and offensive capabilities are really going to benefit Florida as they attempt to win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons, but when the game was over, it was a different area of his game that was the hot topic, at least as far as his coach was concerned.

Thanks to the Panthers giving Tampa Bay and their top-ranked road power play a whopping seven opportunities on the man advantage, Jones was called into action to help kill off a lot of that PK time.

He ended up playing over four minutes while Florida was shorthanded, helping the Cats go a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill.

That was where the fit seemed very organic, and it helped everyone around Jones perform at their usual high level.

“Our penalty killing won us the game,” said Maurice. “Sergei Bobrovsky is just a huge part of that, especially with (Niko) Mikkola in the box for the first four and then (Eetu) Luostarinen takes a four-minute (penalty), so you’ve get killers (serving penalties), and that's where Seth (Jones) was real valuable tonight to help. It's an awful lot of minutes against that power play, so the penalty kill is the key difference.”

BARKOV WAS HUNGRY TO SCORE

If there was something different that Sasha Barkov did during his pregame routine on Monday, let’s make sure he keeps doing that before every game.

For whatever reason, Barkov had a nose for the net against Tampa Bay.

He rung the goalpost on a shorthanded rush early in the game before scoring twice from between the circles during the second period, both on shots that appeared to surprise Lightning goaltender Andre Vasilevskiy.

Barkov has always been a playmaker before being a scorer, but if he starts to hunt for goals more often…things could get a little bonkers with Florida’s captain.

“I think he's been feeling that not scoring for a little bit, and it's great to get him the goals that he scored, they aren't tap-in, back door from Reinhart, they were shoot the puck first. I think that'll go a long way to get him feeling good. I thought before he scored, his game was right on. He was really looking good, so it was fitting.”

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Seth Jones draws strong reviews from teammates, Paul Maurice following Panthers debut

Barkov, Bobrovsky come up big as Panthers take down streaking Lightning

Bill Zito, Panthers not likely done ahead of Trade Deadline after acquiring Seth Jones

Seth Jones 'extremely excited' to join Panthers, will be eased into team's defensive systems

Panthers, Lightning meet in matchup of division rivals on respective winning streaks