Battle of the Sunshine State: Will The Lightning Face The Panthers in the Playoffs?

The Lightning punched their ticket to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs when New Jersey shut out the Rangers 4-0 on Saturday. With five games left, they've posted a strong 45-26-6 mark.

"There's a standard of excellence that we've tried to adhere to," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper to Tampa Bay Times. "And ultimately, our players have done a great job and done everything we've asked and then some."

Tampa Bay holds second place in the Atlantic. They trail Toronto by two wins and are tied with Florida at 45 wins for the season, but the Bolts pull ahead by 2 against the Panthers with 96 points. When the playoffs start on April 19, they'll likely face their state rivals, the Panthers.

Star forward Nikita Kucherov ranks second in NHL points with 111. The scoring runs deep: Brayden Point have struck 41 times, Jake Guentzel is right behind him with 38 goals, while Brandon Hagel has fired a career high of 34 goals.

Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy has stood tall. His six shutouts and 37-20-3 record in 59 starts have been crucial. The team strikes often, ranking second in scoring at 3.56 goals per game, while staying stingy on defense, allowing just 2.61.

After winning two straight Cups in 2020 and 2021, the team stumbled early in the last two playoffs. But their playoff experience runs deep.

Since 2015, no NHL team matches Tampa Bay's 146 playoff games or 87 wins. Their postseason success sets them apart.

Up next: A big home showdown against Toronto on Wednesday, then we face the Red Wings on Friday and the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday. The final home game of the regular season is Tuesday, April 15th against our potential first round matchup the Florida Panthers