Lightning at Panthers preview: Schmid's tune-up and three jobs on the line

The lineup that matters Tuesday in Raleigh is mostly set. Tonight's preseason finale is for the three guys who still don't know if they're on it, and for Akira Schmid, who gets one last full game before the games count.

Tampa Bay visits Amerant Bank Arena at 6 p.m. It's the second Battle of Florida in three days, and the first one went to the Panthers' camp kids, 5-3 in Tampa on Thursday.

The bubble

Florida Hockey Now's camp wrap has 11 forwards, seven defensemen and both goalies penciled in for opening night. That leaves three real races: Bokondji Imama and Cole Reinhardt up front, Alexander Petrovic on the blue line.

The math is tighter than the depth chart. Brad Marchand is out until at least November and headed to LTIR, which frees $5.25 million. Jonah Gadjovich goes there too, clearing $905,000. Even so, Florida sits $896,000 over the cap with 21 players, per FHN. Every open job comes with a price tag.

Reinhardt has made the loudest case. He has three preseason goals, and Thursday's winner came six seconds after Tampa tied it, when he stripped Ryan McDonagh and went five-hole on Vasilevskiy. Imama opened the scoring in that one and threw six hits.

Maurice isn't closing anything yet. "The door is not closed," he said, per FHN. "You can have a great week or two weeks here, and the next few weeks are just as important."

Our read: Reinhardt is ahead. If tonight is quiet, it's his spot to lose.

In net

Schmid starts and is expected to go the full 60, per FHN, with Cooper Black backing up. Schmid is Jacob Markstrom's backup on the projected roster, so this is a tune-up, not an audition. A clean night is all he needs.

Tampa comes with Dennis Hildeby and Mads Sogaard. Andrei Vasilevskiy didn't make the trip, per FHN. Tampa's lineup hadn't been posted at publish time, but no Vasilevskiy usually means a road trip heavy on the kids.

The Lightning's form

Tampa is 1-1-1 this preseason. The Lightning beat Nashville 2-1, lost the rematch 3-2 in overtime, then lost to Florida on Thursday. Jansen Harkins scored twice in that one, and Conor Geekie had the other. Both are fighting for jobs of their own tonight.

The regulars still carry the team. Nikita Kucherov put up 130 points last season, and Tampa finished 50-26-6. Florida finished 40-38-4 and watched the playoffs from home. That's the gap the Panthers spent the summer trying to close.

The matchup to watch

Petrovic against whatever Tampa's kids throw at the net. The forward races have had three games of highlights. The seventh-defenseman question hasn't had many, and a steady, boring night in his own end is how a depth defenseman wins that argument.

One number

Florida is 2-0-1 in the preseason. A win tonight finishes the exhibition slate without a regulation loss. The Rat Trick notes the last two cap-era Panthers teams that did it, in 2013-14 and 2017-18, both missed the playoffs. So enjoy the preseason record, but don't print the playoff tickets.

The Ferda read

Panthers 4, Lightning 2. Schmid looks comfortable enough to handle the backup job without anyone worrying about it. Reinhardt gets on the board and makes Tuesday's roster decision easy.

How to watch

6 p.m. ET at Amerant Bank Arena. TV: WSFL 39 in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, WHDT 9 in West Palm Beach, LAFF 36.3 in Southwest Florida, and the Panthers+ app. Tampa's side is on The Spot. The regular season opens Tuesday at Carolina at 5 p.m. on ESPN.