Here they go again: Lightning vs. Panthers in Round 1, for Sunshine State hockey supremacy

SUNRISE, Fla. — It's starting to feel like an annual tradition: Panthers vs. Lightning in the NHL playoffs, the battle of Florida, a matchup that has seemed to decide which team will eventually get to the Stanley Cup Final.

And here they go again.

Defending Stanley Cup champion Florida heads to Tampa Bay for Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night, the start of the fourth postseason meeting in five years between the Sunshine State rivals. Tampa Bay won the East title in 2020, 2021 and 2022; Florida is trying to match that run of success after winning the East in 2023 and 2024.

''I think you see it every game we play, whether it's preseason in Orlando or whether it's Game 1 of the playoffs,'' Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. ''We've kind of known that the other one's going to be there at the end of the year. It's kind of always, we're going to have to go through each other. I think there's that respect there … but we almost love to hate each other.''

Tampa Bay beat Florida 4-1 in 2021 (on its way to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title) and swept the Panthers in 2022 — giving up just three goals in that series. Florida beat Tampa Bay in six games last season, on its way to its first Cup win.

''They know us and we know them,'' Lightning forward Brayden Point said. ''We're looking forward to it. They're always tight series and it's going to be a good one.''

The goalies

Since the season resumed in February after the break for the 4 Nations Face-off event, Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky — both of them Stanley Cup winners — have looked playoff-sharp.

Vasilevskiy had a 1.89 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in that span. Bobrovsky had a 1.95 GAA and .914 save percentage. And both had three shutouts.

Bobrovsky backstopped Florida to the Cup last season.

''I don't remember much from what happened last year,'' Bobrovsky said. ''It's a new season, it's a new challenge, it's a new contest and we're excited about it. We just want to enjoy that experience and we're going to try our best to win it.''

Think this is close?

A look at some stats in the Panthers-Lightning rivalry:

— Wins this season: Florida 47, Tampa Bay 47.

— Head-to-head wins this season: Florida 2, Tampa Bay 2.

— Wins in last 20 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 10, Tampa Bay 10.

— Goals, last 40 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 128, Tampa Bay 128.

— Goals, last 145 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 454, Tampa Bay 454.

— Record in last 168 head-to-head meetings (including playoffs): Florida 80 wins, Tampa Bay 80 wins, with eight ties.

The drive for 6

The state of Florida has had a team in the Stanley Cup final in each of the last five years.

If the Lightning-Panthers winner gets there again this year, it'll mark the longest stretch of one state or province making it to consecutive title rounds since Alberta — Edmonton six times, Calgary twice — had a team there in eight straight seasons from 1983 through 1990.

No U.S. state has made it to the title round in six straight years since New York saw the Rangers get there in 1979 and the Islanders in each of the following five seasons.

Cooper moving up?

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper has won 87 playoff games with the Lightning, the third-most of any coach with one franchise in NHL history.

He won't be catching Al Arbour anytime soon; Arbour won 119 with the New York Islanders for the most by any coach with one club. But Cooper enters this series just two wins behind Glen Sather, who won 89 with Edmonton.

''There's 32 teams. There's only 16 left. We're one of the 16,'' Cooper said. ''I think every year, we get looked at as, ‘OK, their time's over.' And every year, these guys come back and prove they can do it. It's been amazing to be part of for more than a decade.''

The scoring curse

Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov won the scoring title this season with 121 points, his second consecutive year finishing No. 1 on that list and his third consecutive 100-point season. That's the good news.

Here's the bad news.

No scoring champion has played for that season's eventual Stanley Cup champion since Evgeni Malkin with Pittsburgh in 2008-09. And only four players in the last 25 years have tallied 100 or more points, then gone on to win that year's Cup: Malkin and Sidney Crosby in 2009, Carolina's Eric Staal in 2006 and Colorado's Joe Sakic in 2001.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl