The Tampa Bay Lightning visited the Florida Panthers for their final trip to Sunrise of the season (the regular season at least), on Saturday night.

Pontus Holmberg scored with 7.3 seconds left in the first period to put Tampa Bay on top for good, Nikita Kucherov scored twice and the Lightning beat the Florida

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Nikita Kucherov scored twice, and the Tampa Bay Lightning held off the rival Florida Panthers for a 4-2 win at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday. Jake Guentzel and Pontus Holmberg also scored for the Lightning (21-13-3) who have won three straight. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.

Aaron Ekblad is looking forward to the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic in Florida on January 2 -- but mainly, he just wants to win.

Can the Panthers upset the NFC's No. 1 seed for a third time? If they do, they might have a division title waiting for them on the other side.

The Lightning fell behind at 5:37 of the first when the Panthers benefited from two fortunate bounces around the Tampa Bay net. The puck twice caromed off Lightning players before ending up on the stick of Eetu Luostarinen in the slot. He swatted it in to open the scoring.

Nikita Kucherov scored twice, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the host Florida Panthers 4-2 in a fight-filled game on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.

The Panthers officially signed a former first-round pick to their active roster before Sunday's matchup with the Seahawks.

With the No. 8 overall pick, the Panthers selected Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and he has already transformed the offense in his first season in the league. NFL.com writer Bucky Brooks graded the first-round picks and gave McMillan an "A" for his efforts.

In their first game back from a well-deserved holiday break, the Florida Panthers will battle the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

According to head coach Dave Canalaes, starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu is expected to return to the lineup here in Week 17. Ekwonu, who missed last weekend's massive win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers due to a knee injury, was a full participant in practice throughout the week and has been listed without a game designation.