Florida Panthers v Tampa Bay Lightning Live

Having started the season in Europe versus the Blackhawks, the Florida Panthers are back on American soil hoping to secure a playoff spot in 2009-10 after narrowly missing out on post-season action last year. In the first game versus their southeast division rivals, the Panthers will be in Tampa to face the Lightning on Monday at 11:30 p.m. GMT.

Just like in 2008-09 the Tampa Bay Lightning opened the season with consecutive losses to head straight back to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. However, it should be noted that the Lightning did play fairly well except for their season opener versus the Atlanta Trashers, but were unable to close out games. More specifically, the team around Martin St Louis experienced a 2-1 overtime loss versus the Calgary Flames before falling to the Devils in a penalty shootout. To make things even more demoralizing, Tampa lead New Jersey 3-2 until the Devils sent the game to overtime with one minute left in the third period.

In contrast, the Panthers split their NHL Europe encounter with the Chicago Blackhawks 1-1 and are confidently looking forward to the game versus Tampa. So far, Florida showed aggressive forechecking but failed to play well on the defensive end of the ice. Allowing 44 shots per game versus Chicago, coach Peter DeBoer’s squad will have to organize their defensive lines more efficiently to become a legitimate playoff candidate. Nonetheless, the Panthers are still entering the match-up versus the Lightning as favorites and are hoping to clinch their second victory. Tampa on the other hand is counting on high-scoring right wing Martin St Louis to carry the team. In the first week of action, St Louis already recorded two goals and three assists for a total of five points in three appearances.

You can watch all games of the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.