Pre-Game Skate (3/24/15): Florida Panthers (33-25-14) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (45-21-7)

Hit The Ice:

The train kept rolling on, as it were. The Panthers may have yielded a point to the Boston Bruins but they hung tough in a hotly contested game and came out on the right side with a 2-1 victory. Saturday night’s triumph marked the end of the Panthers penultimate three-game homestand. Tonight, the Panthers embark on their final road trip of the season. Their five game jaunt starts in Tampa and will take them to Toronto and Montreal, then on to face their direct competition for a Wild Card spot in Ottawa and Boston. Can the Panthers zap the Lightning for the second time this month and get started the right way? On to the game!

Know Your Enemy:

Panthers All-Time Record v. Tampa Bay: 58-35-12 with 10 ties
All-Time Record v. Tampa Bay on the Road: 25-24-3 with 6 ties
2014-15 Season Record v. Tampa Bay: 1-0-1
Last Game: 3/1/15 @ BB&T Center, Panthers won 4-3

Historical Data Courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com

The Lightning enter tonight with an opportunity to take not only the top spot in the Atlantic Division but also move into a tie for the top spot in the NHL. However, they will need losses from Montreal, Anaheim, and the New York Rangers tonight in order for that to happen. Regardless, they are one of the best teams in the league. They own the league’s third best score-adjusted SAT% at 53.9, the league’s second best goal differential at +50, and the most goals scored in the league at 238. March has been Bolt friendly too. Since losing to the Panthers on March 1, the Lightning have gone 7-1-1. The month has been a display of the offensive power this team possesses. They are tied with the Vancouver Canucks in goals scored at 31. Only three teams have scored more goals this month: Ottawa, Calgary, and Columbus. The Lightning have also scored three or more goals in seven of their ten games in March. Ondrej Palat and Steven Stamkos lead the team with nine points on the month. In Palat’s case, he got his nine points despite missing three games to a lower body injury in the middle of the month. Three defensemen also have five or more points in March: Victor Hedman (8), Anton Stralman (6), and ex-Panther Jason Garrison (5). The Lightning are getting plenty of support from their goaltenders as well. Starter Ben Bishop is 5-1-1 with a .928 save percentage, while rookie backup Andrey Vasilevskiy is 2-1-0 with a .935 save percentage. With all of this, and wins in their last three games, the Lightning will be a tough ride for the Panthers.

The Rundown:

Panthers Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Nick Bjugstad (24)
Assists: Jussi Jokinen (33)
Points: Nick Bjugstad & Jonathan Huberdeau (43)
SAT Relative: Brian Campbell (+4.1%)
Scoring Chances Relative: Vincent Trocheck (+5.7%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Nick Bjugstad (238)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Brandon Pirri (17.4)
Power Play: 15.1% (33 for 219, 28th)
Penalty Kill: 80.4% (177 for 220, 22nd)

Lightning Leaders & Special Teams
Goals: Steven Stamkos (40)
Assists: Tyler Johnson (41)
Points: Steven Stamkos & Tyler Johnson (66)
SAT Relative: Steven Stamkos (+10.9%)
Scoring Chances Relative: Nikita Kucherov (+10.7%)
Individual Shot Attempts (Total): Steven Stamkos (283)
Individual Shot Attempts (Rate/60): Tyler Johnson (16.5)
Power Play: 18.5% (46 for 249, 13th)
Penalty Kill: 82.7% (186 for 225, 11th)

Data Courtesy of war-on-ice.com, Puckalytics.com, & NHL.com

The Hat Trick:

Killer Instinct: Over the last 12 games, the Panthers have given up just three power play goals. The Penalty Kill unit turning the corner is great news as the we enter the stretch run of the season. Especially when you consider the Panthers PK had given up 12 power play goals in the 14 games leading up to the current stretch of play. This has been a boon to the Panthers ability to win games. They gathered a record of 5-6-3 during their 14 game run with a troubled PK, while they are 7-4-1 over the last 12 games. Roberto Luongo, Dan Ellis and Al Montoya have combined for a .917 save percentage over that time, the 9th best mark in the league.

Thunderdome (Two Teams Enter, One Team Leaves): Trips up I-75 have been less than kind to the Panthers in recent years. In their last ten appearances at the now named Amalie Arena, the Panthers are just 3-6-1. The last time they won a game there was on April 27, 2013, when the Panthers beat the Lightning 5-3. Nick Bjugstad potted his first career goal and the Panthers staged a three goal third period comeback to secure the win. At large, the Panthers have been outscored 44-30 in the last ten trips to Tampa, while being outshot 333-257. Four times the Lightning have won by three or more goals, while the Panthers have secured only one such victory, a 7-4 trouncing on October 17, 2011.

The Final Countdown: Tonight marks the beginning of the final ten game set of the Florida Panthers 2014-15 season. In order to keep their playoff hopes alive, they will need to break a streak of bad finishes. The Panthers have finished with a sub .500 record during the last ten games in each of the last five seasons. Over the last two seasons, the Panthers have posted identical 3-7-0 records in the final 10 games, while posting a 2-3-5 during the playoff year of 2011-12, a franchise history worst 1-7-2 in 2010-11, and a 2-6-2 in 2009-10. In fact, in order to stay on the tail of the Ottawa Senators, the Panthers may well have to go on a franchise-best run. At current moment, it looks like 95 points will be the magic number of points to make the cut into the playoffs, which means the Panthers will need to collect at least 15 of a possible 20 points over these last ten games. This would have to beat the franchise best mark set in the playoff year of 1999-00, when the Panthers went 6-2-1-1 over the last ten games to collect 14 points. The Panthers have had other great late season runs too. They have collected 13 of 20 points on three different occasions in 1994-95 (6-3-1), 2006-07 (5-2-3), and most recently in 2008-09 (6-3-1).

Projected Lineup:

Florida Panthers

D1: Campbell | Ekblad
D2: Mitchell | Gudbranson
D3: Kulikov | Petrovic

SG: Luongo
BG: Ellis

Tampa Bay Lightning

D1: Hedman | Stralman
D2: Carle | Garrison
D3: Barberio | Sustr

SG: Bishop
BG: Vasilevskiy

Courtesy of Daily Faceoff (Accurate as of 1:30 pm)

Closing Thoughts:

Everyone knows that the Gulf side of the Florida Peninsula is the lesser side, right?

AJ can be reached for contact on Twitter .