PANTHERS (29-24-3) at LIGHTNING (36-14-4)
7:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, SNP, SNW, SNO, TVAS
Panthers projected lineup
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
A.J. Greer -- Evan Rodrigues -- Brad Marchand
Sandis Vilmanis -- Cole Schwindt -- Mackie Samoskevich
Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola -- Uvis Balinskis
Donovan Sebrango -- Jeff Petry
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Luke Kunin, Jesper Boqvist
Injured: Tobias Bjornfot (undisclosed), Brad Marchand (lower body), Seth Jones (upper body), Aleksander Barkov (knee), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder)
Lightning projected lineup
Brandon Hagel -- Jake Guentzel -- Nikita Kucherov
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Dominic James -- Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons -- Yanni Gourde -- Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas -- Jack Finley -- Scott Sabourin
J.J. Moser -- Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Victor Hedman -- Declan Carlile
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Max Crozier
Injured: Brayden Point (lower body), Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed), Charle-Edouard D'Astous (undisclosed), Anthony Cirelli (upper body), Nick Paul (undisclosed)
Status report
Marchand is questionable for the second leg of a back-to-back after playing and scoring the deciding shootout goal in a 5-4 win against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday; the forward has missed nine of the Panthers' past 14 games. ... Bjornfot will not play after the defenseman left in the second period Wednesday. ... Vilmanis is expected to be available after missing the final two periods Wednesday. ... Point, a center, was a full participant in the Lightning's optional morning skate but will not be in the lineup and is questionable for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. ... Defensemen D'Astous and Lilleberg also took part in the skate; each is expected to return after the Olympic break.
