Projected Lineups for Lightning vs Panthers – 12/27/25 - The Hockey Writers - Projected Lineups

The Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

LIGHTNING (20-13-3) at PANTHERS (20-14-2)

7 p.m. ET; The Spot, SCRIPPS

Lightning projected lineup

Gage Goncalves — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel — Anthony Cirelli — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Pontus Holmberg — Yanni Gourde — Zemgus Girgensons
Curtis Douglas –Jack Finley — Nick Paul

J.J. Moser — Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Steven Santini
Declan Carlile — Max Crozier

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Dominic James, Scott Sabourin

Injured: Ryan McDonagh (lower body), Erik Cernak (undisclosed), Victor Hedman (elbow), Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed), Brandon Hagel (upper body)

Status report

Santini and Sabourin, a forward, each was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Saturday. … Santini will play in place of McDonagh, a defenseman, who is day to day after aggravating his injury. … Sabourin had travel problems and did not attend the Lightning morning skate; he likely will play if he arrives in time for the game. … Cernak skated Saturday and is nearing a return; the defenseman has not played since Nov. 22. … Hagel also skated but will not play; the forward has been out since Dec. 15.

Latest for THW:

Panthers projected lineup

Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich — Evan Rodrigues — A.J. Greer
Luke Kunin — Noah Gregor — Jesper Boqvist

Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis — Jeff Petry

Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Donovan Sebrango, Jack Studnicka

Injured: Aleksander Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Cole Schwindt (arm)

Status report

Samoskevich will be a game-time decision; he was back in his spot on the third line during the morning skate after missing two games with a lower-body injury.