The Panthers and Lightning are facing off in a same-state duel in the opening round of the NHL playoffs and the winner may not be as certain as it looks on paper.

Today the battle of Florida will be re-ignited as the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers open their first-round series of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. The state-sharing rivals had very different roads to get to the post-season – the Panthers ruling the Atlantic Division and the Lightning scrapping it out late for a wild-card spot – but to say the winner of this series is clear would be a lie.

While the Lightning didn't display the dominance that the Panthers did during the regular-season, they did have the aid of scoring weapon Nikita Kucherov who led the league in scoring this season, winning the Art Ross Trophy. Kucherov will surely be a threat that the Panthers will need to neutralize in some sort of fashion if they want to avoid an upset.

The Panthers don't have a scoring threat like Kucherov – especially with the 109 to 88 point drop-off from Matthew Tkachuk from 2022-23 to 2023-24 – but they have an excellent all-around team with a very solid core that has allowed them to earn home-ice. Let the battle of Florida begin.  

Check out the link to the full episode of The Hockey News Pre-Game Show below.