NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning - Source: Imagn — Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers: Game 3 preview, predictions and odds | Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1, April 26, 2025 - Source: Imagn

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers: Game 3 preview, predictions and odds | Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1, April 26, 2025

By Cole Shelton

Modified Apr 26, 2025 05:00 GMT

The Tampa Bay Lightning go on the road to play the Florida Panthers for Game 3 on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. ET.

Tampa Bay lost Game 2, 2-0, as the Lightning lost both games at home to fall to 0-2 in the series.

Lightning vs Panthers: Head-to-head & key stats

Tampa Bay went 2-2 against Florida this season and is 0-2 in the playoffs
Florida averaged 3 goals per game
Tampa Bay allowed 2.63 goals per game
The Panthers went 27-12-2 at home
Tampa Bay went 18-19-4 on the road
The Panthers allowed 2.71 goals per game
The Lightning averaged 3.56 goals per game

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Florida Panthers: Preview

Tampa Bay is down 0-2 in the series, losing both games at home as the Lightning were shut out in Game 2. In the series, the Lightning only had two goals, which were scored by Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point.

The Lightning will start Andrei Vasilevskiy, who went 38-20-5 with a 2.18 GAA and a .921 SV%, and in his career against Florida, he's 17-15-1 with a 2.99 GAA and a .911 SV%. In the playoffs, he's 0-2 with a 3.56 GAA and a .821 SV%.

Florida, meanwhile, has taken total control of the series as the reigning Stanley Cup champs look dominant again. The Panthers were led by Nate Schmidt, who scored the opening goal, which is his third goal of the series, while Sam Bennett had the empty-netter.

The Panthers will start Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a shutout in Game 2. This season, he went 33-19-2 with a 2.44 GAA and a .906 SV%. In his career against Tampa Bay, he's 14-13-3 with a 3.15 GAA and a .893 SV%. In the playoffs, he's 2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .951 SV%.

Lightning vs Panthers: Odds & Prediction

Tampa Bay is a +114 underdog while Florida is a -135 favorite, and the over/under is set at 5.5 goals.

The Panthers have dominated Tampa Bay in this series, which hasn't looked good. The Lightning need to win Game 3 to have any chance in this series, but Tampa Bay has played poorly on the road.

However, expect the Bolts to come out strong and the Lightning will get a win here to keep the series interesting.

Prediction: Lightning 3, Panthers 2.

Lightning vs Panthers: Betting Tips

Tip 1: Tampa Bay ML (+114)

Tip 2: Under 5.5 goals (-105)

About the author

Cole is an NHL, NFL and College Sports reporter at Sportskeeda with over 7 years of experience writing for publications like CBC, USA Today, SMG, BJPENN, Sherdog and SB Nation.

An NHL fan his whole life, Cole played rep hockey in Canada from age 5 until 17 and grew up rooting for Martin St. Louis and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His all-time favorite players are Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos, while Jon Cooper is his favorite coach of all time.

Cole attended Sheridan College and received his journalism degree in 2019. After decades of watching and reporting, he considers his knowledge of sports as his primary strength. He ensures that the same story has been reported by at least two reputed reporters before creating it.

Cole enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends and family when not reporting breaking stories. His favorite sports moment is from the 2010 Olympics, when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in overtime to beat Team USA for the gold medal.

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