The Lightning know the Panthers better than any other team. They play each other a lot — in the preseason, the regular season and the postseason — so there should be no surprises about what they’ll see from their cross-state rivals in their fourth playoff meeting over the past five seasons.

For the third time in four seasons, the Panthers and Lightning are meeting in the playoffs. This one might be the best yet.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to return to the form that saw the franchise create the first and only dynasty of the 2020s — but it’s not going to be easy to get there. Standing in the way of a third Stanley Cup championship in six seasons is the Florida Panthers,