Tonight at 7:30 p.m., it's the battle for Florida as the Florida Panthers (1-2-0) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2-1-0) hit the ice at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The game can be live streamed here. Panthers fans can hear all the hard-hitting action on 560 WQAM while Lightning fans can access it on 620 WDAE.
The Lightning took three of five from the Panthers last season and embark on a season-long seven-game homestand while the visiting Panthers look to get back on track.
The Panthers brought in Tim Thomas to try and shore up their goaltending this season, but Thomas--who sat out the entire 2012 season--showed a lot of rust in a 7-0 rout Saturday at the hands of the St. Louis Blues and then left the game against the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday due to a groin injury after he saved all eight shots he faced.
Thomas allowed nine goals on 60 shots while stopping 51 of them through three appearances before leaving early on Tuesday. While the Panthers offense has been in a funk, the team insists there is room for optimism.
"There's always different ways to look at a game," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen told NHL.com. "At the end of it, we're not displeased with the way we played but you don't win the game and we need to find a way to finish those off and turn those momentum pushes into some offense and eventually that turns into points."
Jacob Markstrom will most likely man the crease for Florida tonight. He's stopped 29 of 31 shots so far this season after posting an 8-14-1 record last season with a 3.22 GAA and a .901 save percentage.
The Lightning are coming off of a 3-2 overtime victory against the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday and have had a strong start to the season after a 2-1 road trip to kick it all off.
"We wanted to come out here and get more points than games played. We did that, so we're happy with ourselves," coach Jon Cooper told the team's website after the game.
Martin St. Louis has paced Tampa Bay with a goal and two assists for three points so far while Teddy Purcell has two goals on the young season. The Lightning hope to get Steven Stamkos going as he's been held to just two assists and no goals after going 29-28-57 in last year's shortened season, just a year removed from pacing the NHL with 60 goals in 2011-12.
Florida has just four goals thus far this season, but Brian Campbell leads the team with three points, all on assists while Marcel Goc has two goals.
Ben Bishop has been solid in net for the Lightning this season, stopping 58 of 62 shots while allowing four goals and picking up both wins in net for Tampa Bay.
The Panthers will look to try and find its scoring touch while the Lightning hopes to keep surging as it starts a season-long homestand when these two teams drop the puck tonight in Tampa Bay.
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