Rick Tocchet doesn't sound like a coach coming off a heartening 2-0 victory at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Lightning coach has been bait-and-switched by his inconsistent team so far, so he paced it hard in a morning skate at BankAtlantic Center and deemed the first period tonight a test of character.

"I’ve already warned these guys, we’ve got back-to-back (games) against a crosstown rival. (The Panthers)’ve been winning some hockey games. We had a good win, but we won one game. We had the same thing in Montreal and … not to bring up negative but we laid a dud. So, they’ve been warned and this is going to be a good test for our club. Not to be negative, but we better be ready to play because there is going to be … it’s going to see how the direction of this club goes after tonight and tomorrow. And actually I’m just looking at the first period tonight."

Odds and ends:

Lineups for tonight should remain the same as in the win over the Penguins:

Ryan Malone - Vinny Lecavalier - Martin St. Louis
Vinny Prospal -Jeff Halpern - Mark Recchi
Matt Pettinger - Steven Stamkos - Paul Szczechura
Evgeny Artyukhin - Jussi Jokinen - Adam Hall

Mike Smith

Tocchet said Smith "probably" will also start at home against the Panthers barring an unexpected circumstance.

Goaltender Olaf Kolzig is still suffering from an upper-body injury and will not dress. Karri Ramo remains with the team on emergency recall. Kolzig traveled with the team to Sunrise and worked out with trainers during the morning skate.