The Battle of Florida now seems like a one-sided rivalry.
On Wednesday evening, the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Sport 5 on the street, advancing to the second spherical of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The defending Stanley Cup champions will face the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Ottawa Senators within the second spherical. The Lightning, in the meantime, have been eradicated within the first spherical for a 3rd consecutive season.
“Yearly, [the Battle of Florida] simply retains getting tougher and tougher,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov mentioned, via Jameson Olive of the group web site.
Whereas it has been a heated rivalry, its scales are clearly tipping towards the Panthers.
Because the 2020-21 season, the Lightning and the Panthers have met within the playoffs 4 instances. Tampa Bay gained the primary two matchups. It eradicated the Panthers within the first spherical within the 2021 playoffs and within the second spherical the next season.
Because the Panthers acquired left winger Matthew Tkachuk in a commerce with the Calgary Flames in July 2022, they’ve dominated the rivalry, successful the final two playoff matchups.
“It was our flip. Now it is theirs,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper mentioned of the Panthers postgame, per The Athletic’s Josh Yohe.
Extra importantly, the Lightning’s future appears extra unsure than that of the Panthers.
Cooper is below contract by means of the 2025-26 season. Nonetheless, on Wednesday, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks tweeted he could depart Tampa Bay for the Utah Hockey Membership. Utah head coach Andre Tourigny is below contract by means of the 2026-27 season, however the group missed the playoffs this season.
The Panthers, in the meantime, have Tkachuk below contract by means of the 2029-30 season and have a powerful likelihood to repeat as champions. As of Wednesday evening, FanDuel Sportsbook provides them one of the best odds (+390) to win the Stanley Cup.
Each groups appear to be heading in numerous instructions, which might make the Sunshine State’s rivalry far much less aggressive.
