Here they go again: Lightning vs. Panthers in Round 1, for Sunshine State hockey supremacy

SUNRISE Fla AP It s starting to feel like an annual tradition Panthers vs Lightning in the NHL playoffs the battle of Florida a matchup that has seemed to decide which group will eventually get to the Stanley Cup Final And here they go again Defending Stanley Cup champion Florida heads to Tampa Bay for Contest of an Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night the start of the fourth postseason meeting in five years between the Sunshine State rivals Tampa Bay won the East title in and Florida is trying to match that run of success after winning the East in and I think you see it every encounter we play whether it s preseason in Orlando or whether it s Challenge of the playoffs Panthers forward Sam Reinhart explained We ve kind of known that the other one s going to be there at the end of the year It s kind of inevitably we re going to have to go through each other I think there s that respect there but we almost love to hate each other Tampa Bay beat Florida - in on its way to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title and swept the Panthers in giving up just three goals in that series Florida beat Tampa Bay in six games last season on its way to its first Cup win They know us and we know them Lightning forward Brayden Point reported We re looking forward to it They re inevitably tight series and it s going to be a good one The goalies Since the season resumed in February after the break for the Nations Face-off event Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky both of them Stanley Cup winners have looked playoff-sharp Vasilevskiy had a goals-against average and save percentage in that span Bobrovsky had a GAA and save percentage And both had three shutouts Bobrovsky backstopped Florida to the Cup last season I don t remember much from what happened last year Bobrovsky noted It s a new season it s a new challenge it s a new contest and we re excited about it We just want to enjoy that experience and we re going to try our best to win it Think this is close A look at several stats in the Panthers-Lightning rivalry Wins this season Florida Tampa Bay Head-to-head wins this season Florida Tampa Bay Wins in last meetings including playoffs Florida Tampa Bay Goals last meetings including playoffs Florida Tampa Bay Goals last meetings including playoffs Florida Tampa Bay Record in last head-to-head meetings including playoffs Florida wins Tampa Bay wins with eight ties The drive for The state of Florida has had a gang in the Stanley Cup final in each of the last five years If the Lightning-Panthers winner gets there again this year it ll mark the longest stretch of one state or province making it to consecutive title rounds since Alberta Edmonton six times Calgary twice had a club there in eight straight seasons from through No U S state has made it to the title round in six straight years since New York saw the Rangers get there in and the Islanders in each of the following five seasons Cooper moving up Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper has won playoff games with the Lightning the third-most of any coach with one franchise in NHL history He won t be catching Al Arbour anytime soon Arbour won with the New York Islanders for the preponderance by any coach with one club But Cooper enters this series just two wins behind Glen Sather who won with Edmonton There s teams There s only left We re one of the Cooper mentioned I think every year we get looked at as OK their time s over And every year these guys come back and prove they can do it It s been amazing to be part of for more than a decade The scoring curse Tampa Bay s Nikita Kucherov won the scoring title this season with points his second consecutive year finishing No on that list and his third consecutive -point season That s the good news Here s the bad news No scoring champion has played for that season s eventual Stanley Cup champion since Evgeni Malkin with Pittsburgh in - And only four players in the last years have tallied or more points then gone on to win that year s Cup Malkin and Sidney Crosby in Carolina s Eric Staal in and Colorado s Joe Sakic in