Tampa Bay Lightning (47-27-8) vs Florida Panthers (47-31-4)
Game Info: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 8:30 pm (Amalie Arena)
The Line: Betting Odds: Tampa Bay Lightning -115 / Florida Panthers -105 — Over/Under: 5.5
The Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning meet Tuesday in NHL action from Amalie Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning prediction.
Matchup History
These two teams split the regular season meetings 2-2, with the road team winning the first two meetings in a home-and-home in late December, with the Panthers winning 4-2 in Tampa Bay on December 22nd, 2024, before the Lightning got their revenge the next night, 4-0 in Sunrise. Florida then won 2-1 at home on March 3rd, 2025 before the Bolts won 5-1 in Tampa Bay on April 15th, 2025.
Florida Panthers Recap
The Florida Panthers come into the series as the 3-seed in the Atlantic division, finishing the year with an overall record of 47-31-4.
Panthers Begin Stanley Cup Title Defense
Sam Reinhart has a team-high 81 points including 39 goals and 42 assists while Sam Bennett has 51 points with 25 goals and 26 assists and Anton Lundell has 45 points of his own with 17 goals and 28 assists. Aleksander Barkov also has 71 points with 51 assists of his own while Carter Verhaeghe has 53 points with 20 goals and 33 assists and Matthew Tkachuk has 57 points with 22 goals and 35 assists. Sergei Bobrovsky is 33-19-2 with a 2.44 GAA and a .906 save percentage in goal for Florida this season. Vitek Vanecek is also 2-4-1 with a 3.00 GAA and an .890 save percentage in goal for the Panthers this year.
Why the Florida Panthers will win
- The Panthers have won six of their last eight games as underdogs following a road loss.
- The Lightning have lost four of their last six games as favorites against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Panthers have covered the puck line in each of their last eight games as underdogs following a road loss.
Florida Panthers Player Prop Facts
- Matthew Tkachuk has scored the last goal in each of the Panthers’ last three playoff games as underdogs against Eastern Conference opponents.
- Matthew Tkachuk has scored at least one goal in each of his last six appearances.
- Aaron Ekblad has recorded at least one assist in each of his last six appearances after playing less than 20 minutes in the Panthers’ last game.
- Aaron Ekblad has recorded at least one point in each of his last six appearances.
- Aleksander Barkov ranks T1st in the league for shootout goals (4) this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning Recap
The Tampa Bay Lightning come into this series as the 2-seed in the Atlantic division after finishing the regular season with an overall record of 47-27-8 on the year.
Lightning Trying To Snap Run Of Back-To-Back First Round Exits
Nikita Kucherov leads the Bolts with 121 points including a team-high 37 goals and 84 assists while Brandon Hagel has 90 points with 35 goals and 55 assists and Anthony Cirelli has 59 points of his own with 27 goals and 32 assists. Brayden Point has 82 points with 42 goals and 40 assists while Victor Hedman has 66 points with 51 assists. Jake Guentzel also has 80 points with 41 goals and 39 assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy has gone 38-20-5 with a 2.18 GAA and a .921 save percentage while Jonas Johansson has gone 9-6-3 with a 3.13 GAA and an .895 save percentage on the year in goal for Tampa Bay.
Why the Tampa Bay Lightning will win
- The Panthers have lost each of their last six road games.
- The home team has won eight of the Panthers’ last nine games.
- The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in 10 of their last 12 road games against Eastern Conference opponents.
- The favorites have covered the puck line in each of the Lightning’s last three games.
Tampa Bay Lightning Player Prop Facts
- Brayden Point has scored a goal in six of his last seven appearances with the Lightning as home favorites against the Panthers.
- Victor Hedman has recorded at least one assist in each of the Lightning’s last six home games against the Panthers.
- Jake Guentzel has recorded a point in each of his last seven appearances against the Panthers.
- Nikita Kucherov ranks 1st in the league for Points (121) this season.
Total Goals Facts
- Each of the Lightning’s last seven night games against Atlantic Division opponents at Amalie Arena have gone OVER the total goals line.
- Eleven of the Panthers’ last 12 night games against Atlantic Division opponents have gone UNDER the total goals line.
- Each of the last three games between teams from the same division have gone OVER the total goals line.
Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction
I’m on the Lightning here. The Panthers didn’t have the best run of form down the stretch, and while they are the defending Stanley Cup champs, this is going to be a tough series to try to turn things around. Tampa Bay is one of the toughest road environments for opposing teams in the NHL, especially when the rival Panthers come to town. This is a series I see going six or seven games, but I think the Lightning draw first blood here. Give me the Bolts.