But for most of the two teams' existence, the rivalry was purely geographical, with the hockey world largely focusing on other feuds or thriving franchises. Despite achieving far less success in the 23 years after they made the Cup Final in 1996, the Panthers won the lion's share of games against the Lightning. In that same 23-year span, the Cats had a sub-.500 record against the Lightning in only seven seasons, and the club's all-time record against their in-state rival is 79-54-29.
If you take away a little bit of a disastrous start - we won one of our first seven - I've really liked the way we've played. Every team gets injuries. For us personally, going back to 2017, I don't remember - even through our Cup runs and all of that - has this happened to us. There is a lot of money sitting in the stands, but it is encouraging to see the young guys who have come in and filled the gaps for us.