Lightning at Panthers
THE STORY: The Southeast Division-leading Florida Panthers continue to find ways to win. They battled back victoriously from a three-goal deficit for just the second time in franchise history Monday against New Jersey and allowed just 20 shots to edge the New York Rangers 2-1 Wednesday. The Panthers now will try to win their fourth straight game for the first time since March of 2008 when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit Friday. The teams, who play in Tampa on Saturday, have split a pair of shootout results in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers also beat the Lightning 7-4 in Tampa. The Lightning have won just one of their last five games and are 3-6-2 on the road.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET; SunSports (Tampa), FS-FL (Florida).
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (9-9-2): Tampa Bay has been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NHL. The Lightning have allowed one goal or less six times, but have given up seven twice and are 27th in the league in goals against (3.25). They also have victories over Pittsburgh, Chicago and Philadelphia. Steven Stamkos leads the team with 11 goals and 20 points, but has just one goal in his last six games. Vincent Lecavalier continues his strong start with three goals in three games. Mathieu Garon will get the start in goal for Tampa Bay.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (12-6-3): Tomas Fleischmann appears to be alright after he took a hit to the head from Andre Deveaux of the Rangers in the neutral zone Wednesday. Fleischmann had two assists, improving to 22 points in 21 games and 10 in his last seven. The line of Fleischmann, Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg has combined for 69 points and a plus-43. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov sat out Wednesday with an injury, but is expecting to play Friday. Goalie Jose Theodore has rebounded from two straight losses with three consecutive victories.
OVERTIME
1. Florida is off to its best start after 21 games since going 13-3-5 in 1996-97.
2. Tampa Bay has won just 15 times in 51 games at Florida.
3. Florida defenseman Jason Garrison has eight goals in 21 games this season. He had seven in the first 113 games of his career.