Tampa Bay visits Florida after Point's hat trick

Updated Mar. 15, 2024 4:09 a.m. ET

Tampa Bay Lightning (35-25-6, fourth in the Atlantic Division) vs. Florida Panthers (45-18-4, first in the Atlantic Division)

Sunrise, Florida; Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Florida Panthers after Brayden Point's hat trick against the New York Rangers in the Lightning's 6-3 win.

Florida has gone 45-18-4 overall with a 12-1-3 record in Atlantic Division play. The Panthers are 17-4-1 when they commit fewer penalties than their opponent.

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Tampa Bay has a 7-7-4 record in Atlantic Division games and a 35-25-6 record overall. The Lightning are 33-5-3 when scoring three or more goals.

The teams play Saturday for the third time this season. The Panthers won 9-2 in the previous meeting.

TOP PERFORMERS: Sam Reinhart has 46 goals and 31 assists for the Panthers. Aleksander Barkov Jr. has scored five goals with six assists over the last 10 games.

Point has 36 goals and 37 assists for the Lightning. Nicholas Paul has four goals and three assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 8-2-0, averaging 3.2 goals, 5.5 assists, 5.6 penalties and 12.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.1 goals per game.

Lightning: 5-4-1, averaging 3.6 goals, 6.1 assists, 3.9 penalties and 9.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.

INJURIES: Panthers: Aaron Ekblad: out (lower-body), Sam Bennett: out (undisclosed), Evan Rodrigues: out (lower-body).

Lightning: Tanner Jeannot: out (lower body), Mikhail Sergachev: out (lower body).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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