Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/24/2022

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, FL

Where to watch: HULU, ESPN+

DraftKings: Panthers -135, Lightning +115

BetMGM: Panthers -140, Lightning +115

Caesars: Panthers -135, Lightning +115

Lightning: 48-22-8

Panthers: 57-15-6

The Florida Panthers may never lose again and that might be the scariest thing ever when dissecting how to evaluate an NHL team heading into the playoffs. And we might be getting a first-round preview on Sunday when the Panthers put their 13-game winning streak on the line against their biggest competition in hopes of reaching the Stanley Cup Final, the two-time champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida may have the perfect recipe to getting back to the Final for the first time since the mid ‘90s, but man, I don’t think anyone ever anticipated where this group would be after adding Claude Giroux to the already-stacked roster they possess. And it’s not even just the fact that Florida keeps winning. They’re even getting overtime victories in the process, and now twice against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last couple of weeks.

Case in point came Saturday when the Panthers knocked off Toronto 3-2 in overtime when Brandon Montour scored the winning goal 2:26 in to get just another run-of-the-mill win for the best team in hockey. Now at 120 points, the Panthers are in cruise control regarding the top spot in the NHL.

"It has been incredible," Montour said. "The guys we have in that locker room are all great people. Off the ice, we have a blast. We come to the rink every day and have fun. There's one heck of a hockey team in there. We take it each shift, each game. It is showing this year. It has been good."

The Panthers were able to silence Auston Matthews, who returned to the lineup for Toronto after missing three games with an injury. Matthews is sitting at 58 goals and this is likely going to be the second-round matchup we’ve all been clamoring. That is, of course, if Toronto can -- say it with me now -- can get out of the first round.

"It was a hard game, but it had good pace," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "We haven't seen a team like this for the last little bit. It was good to grind one out a little bit, fall behind and have to come back again. We don't want to continuously do that, but we weren't at our best today. Give [the Maple Leafs] credit, they played the right way. They played fast, played harder than we did. We just found a way to get back into the game."

But before we get to the point of Florida-Toronto, we might need to entertain the idea of Florida-Tampa Bay in the first round, though that idea has since cooled down with Boston and Washington vying for the wild-card spots. Tampa is three points clear of Boston for third place and is five behind the Maple Leafs with a game in hand.

Tampa is coming off a 6-2 win over the Nashville Predators thanks to three-point nights from Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. The two-time defending champions are two wins away from another 50-win season, which shows how crazy this conference has been.

"If we are going to do anything we have to look after our own end," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I don't care who's in net, if you're not defending they can only do so much. When you give your goaltender some help, like we have been doing the past couple of games, good things happen. It all starts with a commitment to [defense] and we've done it the past couple of games and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor."

The Lightning went with Brian Elliott on Saturday, meaning Andrei Vasilevskiy will get the go with minimal travel. I’d expect the Panthers to go with Spencer Knight after rolling with Sergei Bobrovsky in the win over Toronto. But seriously, who’s betting against the Panthers right now? While I think a loss will do them some good heading into the playoffs, they want to play up to competition against the champs. Panthers win 4-3

Lightning are 14-11 against division opponents this season.

Panthers are 17-4 against division opponents this season.

Lightning:

Nicholas Paul -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Ross Colton

Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brandon Hagel

Pat Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Corey Perry

Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta

Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak

Mikhail Sergachev -- Zach Bogosian

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Panthers:

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Anthony Duclair

Mason Marchment -- Sam Bennett -- Claude Giroux

Maxim Mamin -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart

Ryan Lomberg -- Eetu Luostarinen -- Noel Acciari

Ben Chiarot -- MacKenzie Weegar

Gustav Forsling -- Brandon Montour

Lucas Carlsson -- Radko Gudas

Spencer Knight

Points: Steven Stamkos -- 93

Goals: Steven Stamkos -- 35

Assists: Steven Stamkos -- 58

Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy -- 36-18-5, 2.46 GAA, .917 SV%

Points: Jonathan Huberdeau -- 114

Goals: Sasha Barkov -- 39

Assists: Jonathan Huberdeau -- 84

Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky -- 39-6-3, 2.64 GAA, .913 SV%