The Battle of Florida: Part III

I figured I would run this one more time before the end of the season. Here is the first part, and the second part.

The Lightning out-average the Panthers by about a 1,000 per game (16,435 to 15,448), but this difference shrinks to about 100 if you just solely look at the second half figures (16,111 to 15,998) as of today.

Here's the big graph (click to enlarge):



Both teams benefit from their similar opponents travel schedule. For example, the highs on the graphs for both teams are Northeastern clubs such as Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and New York (Rangers, that is). But, with Florida in the Eastern race while Tampa Bay preps for next season, it will be interesting to see if Florida can find any sort of base to work off of. Tampa Bay should still out-average Florida in the end though, with more of a fan-base due to their Stanley Cup history along with the bigger capacity of the St. Petes Forum compared to the BankAtlantic Center.

Come on back tomorrow.