The most important number here is 16.
The Florida Panthers need 16 wins to successfully defend the Stanley Cup.
Kicking off what they want, the Panthers, the second championship in March of two months, will face cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Game 1 is set at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.
“We know them really well, they know us really well, and obviously we’re in the same state,” Alexander Barkov Grandetain said of the much-anticipated series. “It’s a big competition between us, it gets bigger and bigger every year. It’s good for hockey and good for Florida.”
However, despite being the largest number, 16 is not the only number.
With that in mind, here are some key numbers that stand out towards round one.
3: This season, the points against Alexander Barkov’s Lightning. The captain led the Panthers’ charges in the season series, notching three points (two goals, one assist) in three games, earning 55.8% of his showdown. In his playoff career with Tampa Bay, Barkov produced a team-high 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists) in 15 games.
4: The number of times the Panthers and Lightning have met in the playoffs in the past five seasons. Of these four series, two teams played 15 games. The key matchup in the overall landscape, one of either the Panthers or the Lightning, represents the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup finals of the past five seasons.
244: Miles between Amerant Bank Arena and Amalie Arena. This series really covers the state of the sun. With fans on both coasts, there’s certainly no shortage of pack-loving maniacs who will travel back and forth across alligator alleyways over the next two weeks. Drive safely!
41: Jake Guentzel’s goal. After Stephen he got off to a great start in Tampa. As an alternative to the team’s former captain, Gunter’s first season didn’t get much better. In addition to being second in the team in goal (41), the evil sniper led Tampa Bay with a power play goal (17). In four games against the Panthers during the regular season, Guentzel found the back of the net twice.
23.3: Total number of the above targets expected for Sergei Bobrovsky over the past two posts. Let’s thank “Playoff Bob.” The veteran netminder, the backbone of Florida’s defense, always finds another gear is in playoff time.
46: Matthew Tokachuk’s total points over the past two postseasons. Since he arrived in South Florida, there has been strength on the ice, with No. 19 leading the Panthers by points (46), supporting assists (29) in the team’s final two playoff runs, and tired 17 times on the string.
20: The number of goals the Panthers scored in their first round victory over the Lightning in the playoffs last year. The Panthers sent their cross-state rivals in just five games, scoring at least three goals in all five games against Thunder. Ending the series in high notes, the Panthers filled the back of the net with a lopsided 6-1 victory in the decisive Game 5.
6: Sequential trips to the Panthers’ postseason. We are truly in the golden age of hockey in South Florida. Of the 11 trips into the postseason in the franchise’s 31-year existence, six have come since 2020-21. Meanwhile, the Panthers won the Stanley Cup, two Prince of Wales Trophy, two Atlantic Division titles, and one Presidential trophy.
9: Sergei Bobrovsky’s career wins lightning in the playoffs. Before helping the Panthers pass Tampa Bay on their way to last year’s Stanley Cup, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner back-top the Columbus Blue Jacket in 2019 into a stunning one-round sweep of the Top Seed Lightning.
25: Number of Panthers’ wins leading after the first period of the season. Like any team, the Panthers and Lightning both love playing for lead. The Panthers went 25-4-0 when they led after the 20-minute opening, but Thunder was also impressed, 27-5-3.
5: The number of goals Carter Verhaege scored against the Lightning during last year’s playoffs. “Swaggy”, the only man to win the Stanley Cup on both teams, paid for his previous team. In addition to leading the Panthers with goals (5) and plus/minus (+7) in the series, Verhaeghe was first tied with points (9) and ranked second in shots in goal (22).
121: Nikita Kucherov’s total points. In its second straight season, Lightning Forward brought back Art Rostrophy as the NHL’s top point producer. The 10th player in NHL history scored the league three times (2019, 2024, 2025) and recorded 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists) in 78 games. In three regular season games with the Panthers in 2024-25, he produced three points, including lighting the ramp twice.
33.25: The Panthers hit lightning around 60 minutes between 2024 and 2025. Finishing the regular season with 2,446 league-leading hits, the Panthers averaged around four hits per game against Tampa Bay, compared to an average of 29.51 hits throughout the season.
15: The Panthers road playoffs win over the past two seasons. Do you want to start a playoff series on the road? no problem. Over the course of back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup final, the Panthers went 15-8, including a 7-4 during last year’s Cup run.
55.1: Shot percentage attempts to control the Panthers 5-5 during the regular season. Only the Carolina Hurricanes (59.15%) were better than the Panthers, who won the majority of shot attempts from 2024-25. Beyond the ice, Lightning finished 13th, with a 50.39% share of shot attempts, according to shadowstattrick.com.
66: Andrei Vasilevskiy’s career playoffs win. Since his debut season in 2014-15, the NHL goaltender has not won more games than “The Big Cat.” With his 115 career playoff appearances, Lightning NetMinder boasts a .920 save percentage. That being said, the Panthers finally made Vasilevskiy better in their first round matchup last year. He has only won one game in the series against Florida, and posted an average save percentage of 0.897 and 3.22 goals.
88.9: Florida’s penalty is the killing rate against the Lightning in the regular season. Despite owning a fifth-place power play in the NHL at 25.9%, Tampa Bay’s proud offense was largely suppressed by the Panthers. During four direct matches between 2024-25, the Panthers only allowed two power play goals on 18 trips for penalty kills.
39: Samline Heart’s goal this season. In his second straight campaign, Reinhart paced Panthers at the finish line. Inflicting some damage against lightning, he lit the ramp twice in 2024-25 with three head-to-head matches. Reinhart has always been a scoring threat, scoring a total of 21 goals in his first three playoff runs against the Panthers. Nothing is bigger than the goal he won last year in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Edmonton Oilers.
