Panthers, Lightning will have early opportunity to re-ignite rivalry

Who's ready for a rivalry?
The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will have a chance to ramp up their intrastate-fueled feud in the coming weeks, as the teams are set to clash in four of their next five games, including a pivotal home-and-home series to open the 2017-18 season.

In 126 career regular-season meetings between the two Sunshine State clubs, the Panthers currently own a 64-39-10-13 all-time record against the Lightning.
Florida posted a 2-1-1 record against Tampa in 2016-17.
"Any time you play against a team that many times it helps build that fuel, that hatred," Panthers forward Colton Sceviour said after Saturday's practice at the Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs. "Obviously the proximity is also a big thing. We have three games against them now, one game off, and then back at it for two more to start the season. We're obviously going to get that rivalry] going right off the bat."
In their first meeting of the preseason, the Panthers defeated the Lightning 4-2 at Amalie Arena on Sunday. In that game, Jamie McGinn, Evgenii Dadonov, Radim Vrbata and Jonathan Huberdeau all lit the lamp for Florida, which improved to 2-0-1 in the preseason.
"They're a quick team and they always have a good game plan," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "They had a young lineup [on Sunday**.