The Battle of Florida now feels like a one-sided rivalry.
On Wednesday night, the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Game 5 on the road, advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The defending Stanley Cup champions will face the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Ottawa Senators in the second round. The Lightning, meanwhile, have been eliminated in the first round for a third consecutive season.
“Every year, [the Battle of Florida] just keeps getting harder and harder,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said, via Jameson Olive of the team website.
While it has been a heated rivalry, its scales are clearly tipping toward the Panthers.
Since the 2020-21 season, the Lightning and the Panthers have met in the playoffs four times. Tampa Bay won the first two matchups. It eliminated the Panthers in the first round in the 2021 playoffs and in the second round the following season.
Since the Panthers acquired left winger Matthew Tkachuk in a trade with the Calgary Flames in July 2022, they have dominated the rivalry, winning the last two playoff matchups.
“It was our turn. Now it’s theirs,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of the Panthers postgame, per The Athletic’s Josh Yohe.
More importantly, the Lightning’s future seems more uncertain than that of the Panthers.
Cooper is under contract through the 2025-26 season. However, on Wednesday, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks tweeted he may leave Tampa Bay for the Utah Hockey Club. Utah head coach Andre Tourigny is under contract through the 2026-27 season, but the team missed the playoffs this season.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have Tkachuk under contract through the 2029-30 season and have a strong chance to repeat as champions. As of Wednesday night, FanDuel Sportsbook gives them the best odds (+390) to win the Stanley Cup.
Both teams seem to be heading in different directions, which could make the Sunshine State’s rivalry far less competitive.
