Florida Panthers vs Tampa Bay Lightning Game 1 Predictions, Injuries & Odds (Apr. 22)

• It’s a Sunshine State Showdown when Tampa Bay hosts rival Florida in Game 1 of their first-round Eastern Conference series Tuesday night.

• This will be the fourth time these two teams have met in the playoffs in the last five years. The Lightning have won two of the previous three.

• It’s the first-round playoff series I have been waiting for, and I have your look at the top odds, latest injury news and prediction for Game 1.

The Florida Panthers (35-47 ATS) visit Tampa Bay (43-39 ATS) in Game 1 of their first-round series Tuesday night.

Tampa Bay is favored by 1.5-goals. The two teams split four meetings this season, but the last meeting, just a week ag,o comes with an asterisk as Florida rested most of its stars in a 5-1 Tampa Bay triumph.

These two teams have won three of the last five Stanley Cups, I have the things you should look for in the odds, my prediction, and what the injury report says and means.

Panthers vs. Lightning Prediction

• Florida +1.5 (-275 at Fanatics)

• Under 5.5 (-110 at Fanatics)

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There are stars all over the ice in this series. Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov led the NHL with 121 points this season, including 37 goals. Tampa had the No. 1 offense in the NHL.

The Panthers can answer with their own star in Aleksander Barkov, who doesn’t score quite at the same clip as Kucherov, but is a better two-way player, perhaps.

Adding Tkachuk would be a huge lift on offense for Florida.

We also have an elite goaltending match-up. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was a workhorse this season and won 38 games with a .921 save percentage. Florida will go with Bob, Sergei Bobrovsky, who had 33 wins and a .905 save percentage.

If I was going puck line only, I think I’d take Tampa Bay to win, but I can’t pass up the 1.5 goals for Florida. This screams 2-1, 3-2, maybe overtime.

Panthers vs Lightning Injuries

This series might hinge on the health of Panthers standout Matthew Tkachuk. The last time we saw Tkachuk was at the 4 Nations Faceoff for Team USA, where he suffered a lower-body injury and hasn’t played since.

Tkachuk was expected to participate in the morning skate on Tuesday and would be a game-time decision. Tkachuk had 57 points in 52 games before the injury. His presence alters the series.

Florida will get back Aaron Ekblad for Game 3. That will be when his 20-game suspension from the NHL ends for violating the substance program.

Tampa Bay isn’t completely healthy either.

The Lightning list winger Mitchell Chaffee as questionable for Game 1. He’s a forward who provides some depth for Tampa.

Tampa Bay will be without Oliver Bjorkstrand for the series with a lower-body injury. He came over in a trade from Seattle at the deadline and also provides depth for Tampa.

Panthers vs Lightning Odds

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The Lightning are favored at home. They are 29-8-4 this season at home, but one of those losses was to the Panthers back in December. Florida is 20-19-2 in their road sweaters.

The over/under in the last 10 meetings between these two teams is a perfect 4-4 with two pushes. It doesn’t get any closer than that. I will say though that this year, no meeting has gone over six goals, and playoff hockey tends to be tighter.

I found the best moneyline bet on Florida is at Fanatics, while you can get Tampa -115 at Bet365 tonight.

Panthers vs Lightning Game 1 history

Here’s a look at each Game 1s in the three previous playoff series between the two teams.