Miami Heat

Weekend Watch List: Lightning, Heat down to the wire in regular season

Published Apr. 3, 2015 12:30 p.m. ET

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Hana Ostapchuk

While the boys of summer are just a couple days away from opening their 162-game marathon, the remainder of Florida's teams are in the final days of the regular season.

With rookie guard Shabazz Napier (hernia) now out for the season, the Miami Heat are forced to make do with who's left as players continue to shuffle in and out of the starting lineup during their fight for playoffs. The Heat currently hold down the eighth seed as they have the tiebreaker over the Boston Celtics.

On the ice, the Florida Panthers may come up short for the wild-card spot, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are still in the hunt for the Atlantic Division title (just one point shy of Montreal). The Lightning need one more point to clinch home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Here's a closer look at what to watch for in the Sunshine State this weekend...

FRIDAY, APRIL 3

MLB -- Rays at Tigers, 1 p.m.

MLS -- D.C. at Orlando City, 7 p.m.

NBA -- Magic at Timberwolves, 8 p.m. (FOX Sports Florida)

Spotlight: The Magic and Timberwolves last met way back on Nov. 7, with Aaron Gordon scoring six of his career high 17 points in overtime as the Magic prevailed 112-103. Tobias Harris added 17 points, 16 rebounds and two assists, while Gorgui Dieng had 11 points, 10 rebounds and two steals for the Timberwolves. The Magic are 10-2 vs. the Timberwolves since the 2008-09 season, though both losses came in their last two trips to Minnesota.

SATURDAY, APRIL 4

MLB -- Tigers at Rays, 12:30 p.m. (Sun Sports)

NHL -- Lightning at Panthers, 7 p.m. (Sun Sports/FOX Sports Florida)

NBA -- Heat at Pistons, 7:30 p.m. (Sun Sports)

NBA -- Magic at Bucks, 8:30 p.m. (FOX Sports Florida)

Spotlight: The Lightning have won just one of their past five games -- Monday's 5-3 victory over the Canadiens. The Panthers are coming off of a 6-1 blowout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, which left them six points behind Boston in the run for playoffs. One more loss by the Panthers or one more victory by the Bruins will eliminate Florida from playoff contention. Tampa Bay won two out of the teams' three matchups this season. The Lightning won 3-2 in the season opener as Victor Hedman scored the winning goal in overtime. Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist for the Panthers in a 4-3 victory on March 1. Tampa Bay came back on March 24 for a 4-3 win with Ryan Callahan scoring the game winner.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5

NHL -- Canadiens at Panthers, 5 p.m. (FOX Sports Florida)

NBA -- Heat at Pacers, 6 p.m. (Sun Sports)

Spotlight: Miami heads into the weekend coming off a 114-88 blowout loss to LeBron James and the Cavaliers on Thursday night. Dwyane Wade, who was a game-time decision for feeling under the weather, played 13 minutes but missed the second half with a left knee bruise caused by a fall during the game. Wade is hopeful of returning for the Heat's weekend matchups vs. the Pistons and Pacers. Miami has lost three of its last four games heading into the weekend. Indiana has won just twice in its past 11 games. The teams will be meeting for the fourth and final time this season. Indiana has won two of the three previous meetings this season -- the first on Nov. 12 when Chris Copeland scored 17 points and kept the Pacers ahead to win 81-75. On Dec. 31, C.J. Miles led Indiana with 25 points to defeat Miami 106-95. Most recently, Luol Deng scored 23 points to edge the Pacers 89-87 on Jan. 23.

NEWS OF NOTE

-- Goaltender Roberto Luongo earned his 400th win when the Panthers dominated the Hurricanes 6-1 on Thursday night. Jaromir Jagr also had one goal and an assist to tie Ron Francis for fourth place on the NHL's career points list.

-- Florida Gators men's basketball announced the details of head coach Billy Donovan's contract extension on Thursday. The extension raises his annual salary to about $4 million. Donovan will be kept under contract through the 2019-20 season.

-- After rumors flourished of Florida State Seminoles guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes ending his future as a Seminole, Rathan-Mayes announced on Thursday afternoon that he will be returning for his sophomore season.

-- Miami Dolphins signed free-agent quarterback Josh Freeman to a one-year contract on Thursday, making him and Matt Moore potential backups for Ryan Tannehill.

-- The Miami Marlins officially announced their Opening Day rotation on Wednesday, including All-Star right-hander Henderson Alvarez, who will be followed by Mat Latos and Tom Koehler against the Atlanta Braves. Jared Cosart and Dan Haren will start after the six-game homestand.

-- It was announced on Wednesday that Heat rookie Shabazz Napier would be out for the remainder of the season following a successful surgery to repair a sports hernia. Napier has been inconsistently featured in the lineup since the team acquired Goran Dragic.

-- Lightning signed goaltender Adam Wilcox to a two-year contract on Thursday. Wilcox was a junior at the University of Minnesota this season and was a nominee for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top college goaltender.

-- On Tuesday, Marlins right-hand reliever Aaron Crow announced that his doctor recommended Tommy John surgery to repair a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. Crow mentioned that he will "most likely" take part in the surgery.

-- The Marlins announced a season-long #RewriteTheFuture promotion in reference to the 1989 movie 'Back to the Future II.' The film introduces a team from Miami that plays in the 2015 World Series, but doesn't win. For the 2015 season, Marlins fans are encouraged to use this hashtag during social media nights.

-- The Tampa Bay Rays and Tropicana Field unveiled all new delectable's for Rays game attendees to be featured this season, including new Po Boy sandwiches, different twists on macaroni and cheese, Puerto Rican-inspired baked potatoes, new flatbreads and the Everglades Roadhouse favorite, the Mac Dog.

TWEET(S) OF THE WEEK

With MLB Opening Day around the corner, both the Marlins and Rays' communities have been counting down to the start of baseball season throughout the week.

You can follow Hana Ostapchuk on Twitter @HanaOstapchuk or email her at HANAMARIE13@AOL.COM.

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