Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Battle Of Florida

11/08/2016 at 9:53am EST

from Joe McDonald of ESPN,

If the hockey gods have a sense of drama, they will make sure the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers finally play each other in the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. Fans would go crazy to see two Florida teams play and the players would dig into that rivalry as well.

On Monday, the Panthers defeated the Lightning 3-1, the Panthers' Reilly Smith scoring the winner in the waning minutes of regulation, goaltender Roberto Luongo finishing with 34 saves to snap a personal four-game losing skid.

These two teams will battle for Atlantic Division supremacy all season. The win by the Panthers (6-6-1) over the Lightning (7-5-1) should be exactly what they needed to push them in the right direction. The Panthers have been getting contributions from forward Vincent Trocheck, who has six goals and two assists for eight points in 13 games. Adding Jonathan Marchessault during the offseason was huge: the former Lightning forward is leading the Panthers with seven goals and six assists for 13 points in 13 games. But Florida needs more contributions throughout the lineup to set up this playoff matchup. Make it happen, hockey gods.

continue for some Rask and Trouba talk...

Regarding Lightning/Panthers, only an announced crowd of 11,000+ and game highlights are below...

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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