Battle of Florida in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs

On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Dallas Stars by a score of 5-2, which gave the Central Division title to the Carolina Hurricanes. Why is that important? Because Carolina clinching first place officially locks in the first Stanley Cup Playoff series of this season, and for the first time ever, the Tampa Bay Lightning will face off against the Florida Panthers in a best-of-seven playoff series. These two teams have co-existed together for 28 years; the Lightning debuted in 1992, while the Panthers joined the league a year later in 1993. Though even then, the Lightning had a leg up on their in-state rivals, as their debut was the big story of the 1992-93 season, while the Panthers were pretty much overshadowed in the 1993-94 season, by the relocation of the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas, and the debut of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

The funny thing: for the first decade of their co-existence, the Panthers were the top team in Florida. This was because of the Panthers reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 1996--only their third season in the NHL, while the Lightning had some playoff appearances but couldn't really get anywhere. However, the Lightning did finally get their shining moment in their 12th season of existence, as they ended the 2003-04 season as Stanley Cup Champions for the very first time. The Lightning added a second Stanley Cup in 2020, all the while, the Panthers have not won a playoff series since the 1996 Eastern Conference Final.

The Bolts have been playing the entire season without Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov, but they did explode this season and serve as one of the dominant teams in the Central Division. This was done with efforts from Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat, Victor Hedman, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. On the flipside, the Panthers have had a very strong campaign behind players such as Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Carter Verhaeghe, and goaltenders Chris Driedger and Sergei Bobrovsky. The Panthers lost defenseman Aaron Ekblad for the remainder of the season, but it hasn't deterred them this year.

Now while we do know that the Florida teams will face each other in the Central Division Semifinals, we--at this point--do not know who will have home ice advantage in that series. Both teams are tied in points with 75; the Lightning are 36-15-3, while the Panthers are 35-14-5. The Lightning have the tiebreaker, meaning if they get three points in their final two games, they will lock up the #2 position in the Central Division. With the Florida teams and Carolina establishing themselves as the top three teams in the makeshift Central Division, finishing first became important, because two of the three teams would face each other in the opening round. Now that the Florida teams will officially represent the divisions 2nd and third place teams, home ice in that series is immensely vital.

The Panthers and Lightning end the regular season with back-to-back games against each other, meaning that they will face each other as many as nine straight times, counting their upcoming series. The Panthers are at home for those games, and for seeding, the Lightning will lock up the #2 seed in the Central with a regulation win in one of the two games. For the Panthers, they need three points--a regulation win in one game and (at least) an overtime appearance in the other. The games will take place on Saturday, May 8, and Monday, May 10.

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