Game Fifty-Six: Toronto Maple Leafs (27-21-9) at Tampa Bay Lightning (37-14-4)
Time: 7:30 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Home of Gold Medalist Jake Guentzel
TV/Stream/Radio: TNT/ HBO Max/ Tru TV, 102.5 FM, Lightning App (audio)
Odds: Lightning -230
Know the Opponents: Pension Plan Puppets
Twenty-seven games in the next fifty days. Buckle up Bolts’ fans, there is about to be a lot, and we mean, a lot of hockey. Fresh off of the Olympic break, the T...
After talking about the “dream come true” of playing in the Olympics, Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman spoke to reporters about returning to action. He confirmed that he is good to go as the team returns to action against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight.
Assistant Coach Rob Zettler also confirmed that all of the Olympic players will be playing and that Emil Lilleberg and Charle-Edouard D’Astous should be ready to go. Even with Max Crozier out and Nick Paul likely out, this may be...
While it might feel like we just wrapped up this countdown (because it’s true) it seems like a good time to revisit the Top 25 Under 25 just to see how the kids are doing. With the trade deadlines in the rearview mirror for the Canadian Hockey League, and the college hockey teams starting to wind down their regular seasons it’s a good time to see how things are shaping up for the prospects.
Today, we’ll tackle the bottom half of the list (which contains a couple of players that might be t...
While the pressure is ramping up in Milan for the four teams left in the Olympic tournament, things are starting to wind back up in Tampa (well, Brandon to be exact). The Tampa Bay Lightning were back on the ice on Wednesday as practice resumed for the players not over in Italy.
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It’s good to see Charle-Edouard D’Astous in a regular sweater based on some of the news from yesterday in regards to so...
The day started out pretty nice. It was in the mid-70s in the Tampa Bay area with a bright blue sky and a light breeze stirring the fronds of the palm trees. The type of day Northerners relish as they descend upon the beaches to escape the bitter cold back home. Even better, the Lightning were back on the ice. Over at the practice facility in Brandon, the non-Olympic players were practicing as they prepared to return to NHL action.
Then things took a turn for the worse. First the Lightnin...
The quarterfinals are all set and there are some intriguing match-ups as teams look to push through to the semifinals and a chance to reach the medal round. We mentioned the first two wins in yesterday’s post as Germany and Switzerland advanced. Czechia held off Denmark as Oliver Bjorkstrand became the first member of the Lightning to see his gold medal dreams dashed. Sweden handled Latvia with ease to set up a date with the United States.
So today’s games are:
Slovakia vs. German – ...
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s strong finish to 2025 rolled right into 2026 as they kept piling up the wins and those sweet, sweet Marriott Bonvoy points as they spent a grand portion of the month away from Benchmark International Arena. Nine of their thirteen games were on the road, and two of their trips back home were for single-game home stands. Despite the travel, they managed to keep piling up the points, dropping the full two points only once all month long.
As Coach Jon Cooper pointed ...
The St. Louis Blues are adding some depth down the middle of the ice, as the Blues have claimed center Jack Finley off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning. STL claims Jack Finley — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 7, 2026 Finley, 23 has appeared in 22 games for the Lightning this season, scoring two goals, and adding one assist for three points. He's been averaging just 8:24 of ice-time per game, and hasn't been used much else besides 5.vs.5. Finley has won 49% of his fac...
Just because the games aren’t being played doesn’t mean there aren’t things going on in the NHL world. The Tampa Bay Lightning were in the news a bit on Friday as there was some off the ice action. Jack Finley was placed on waivers and Curtis Douglas had to cut a check due to his actions against the Florida Panthers. Other than that, it was a lovely Friday afternoon.
First up was the news that Handsome Jack Finley, the Bolts towering center was placed on waivers. Yes, despite an Olympic b...
The Tampa Bay Lightning have made some roster changes heading into their Olympic break, as they've placed center Jack Finley on waivers Friday. Cleared Jack Finley (TB) on waivers https://t.co/yFjqdwEfvK — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 6, 2026 The 23-year-old Finley can now be claimed by any team before the 2pm deadline on Saturday. As a reminder, the waiver chart is based on standings, so the Vancouver Canucks would have first crack at adding Finley, if they so to choose. jack fin...
The familiarity factor for the Team Canada roster at the Olympics has been on another level. Doug Armstrong (GM) selected Jordan Binnington and Colton Parayko from his St. Louis Blues , selected Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Anthony Cirelli from Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning , and the injury replacements, Sam Bennett and Seth Jarvis, both played on the 4 Nations team for Canada. On top of that, the defense selected were all the same and there were very few changes made to the roster, de...
Paul Maurice started his Olympic break early. The Florida Panthers head coach was tossed out of Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, in what was a wild, fight-filled affair. The Battle of Florida lived up to its name, and much more, as this game was one for the ages. In the third period, the Lightning were walking away with it 4-0, and that's when things took a turn. Fights broke out at center ice, including a rematch between Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk, and Lightning's Brandon...
The Florida Panthers got absolutely thrashed 6-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in the final night of action before the NHL shuts down for three weeks for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Tampa Bay, clad in its Stadium Series kit, scored twice in each period with the goals going to Brandon Hagel, Zemgus Girgensons, Jake Guentzel, Erik Cernak, Pontus Holmberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Guentzel’s goal came on the power play; Cernak’s marker w...
To their credit, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers played an actual hockey game for the first 44 minutes of their final meeting during the regular season. Up 4-0 in the third period, the two teams got into their usual shenanigans that resulted in 14 penalties being dished out, 6 misconducts, 2 game misconducts, and Paul Maurice getting ejected. Overall, the two teams combined for 147 penalty minutes on the night. Oh yeah, and the Lightning won 6-1 behind Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 33 save...
The Florida Panthers (29-24-3) and Tampa Bay Lightning (36-14-4) will tussle for the final time this regular season at Benchmark International Arena in the last night of NHL action before the three-week break for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Florida blew a two-goal third period lead, but still managed to end its four-game losing streak with a nail-biting 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins last night. Anton Lundell (1G/2A), Matthew Tkachuk (1G/1A) and Uvis Balinskis (1G/1A) had ...
Game 55: Florida Panthers (29-24-3) at Tampa Bay Lightning (36-14-4)
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Where the Panthers have suffered 40 regular season losses
TV/Stream/Radio: Hulu, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App (audio only)
Odds: Lightning
Know the Opponents: Litter Box Cats
No need to get too in depth with this preview, right? We all know how these games go. The teams play pretty fun hockey until a hit or a post-whistle scrum goes a littl...
Down three centers to start the game, and with their lines in a bit of a blender, the Tampa Bay Lightning still found a way to pull two points out of a game as Darren Raddysh tied it at the death, and Nikita Kucherov found Jake Guentzel in open ice in overtime. Guentzel didn’t miss as he beat Colton Ellis through the five-hole to give the Lightning the 4-3 overtime victory.
The assist was Kucherov’s fourth point of the night as he had a goal and three assists to move to 90 points on the s...
The Tampa Bay Lightning are hosting the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday evening. They're also hosting scouts from 10 teams around the NHL, as the Bolts are sniffing around the trade market. 10 teams with scouts/reps on the list here in Tampa for Lightning/Sabres: ANA, CHI, FLA, LA, MTL, NYR, PHI, SJ, STL, WAS — David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) February 4, 2026 The Lightning are looking to add, and GM Julien BriseBois told insider David Pagnotta that if he does make a deal, his priority would be ...
Well, it looks like Coach Jon Cooper isn’t going to have one of his most trusted forwards for Team Canada in the upcoming Olympic Games in Italy. Reports have surfaced that Anthony Cirelli will not be able to participate after suffering an injury in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s victory over the Boston Bruins.
To add insult to injury, he’s being replaced on the roster by a Panther. Florida’s Sam Bennett
Shortly after Boston scored to make it 3-1 on Sunday, Cirelli was skating at center i...
Tuesday will feature an expected lopsided NHL outing between the home favorite Tampa Bay Lightning (35-14-4, -236 on the moneyline to win) and the Buffalo Sabres (31-18-5, +193 moneyline odds) at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
You can see the Lightning attempt to beat the the Sabres on ESPN+.
Lightning vs. Sabres Game Info & Odds
When: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN+
Live Stream: ESPN+
Where: Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida
Favorite: Lightnin...
Is this becoming the Season of the Goalie Fight? Just two weeks after Alex Nedeljkovic and Sergei Bobrovsky went at, we had another duke-it-out session with goalies on center stage. And what a stage it was, in the Stadium Series game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning . Watch Jeremy Swayman and Andrei Vasilevskiy go at it: Vasilevskiy received a five minute fighting major for the scrap, which saw him take down Swayman after a number of blows were traded. Players ...
Oy. 1st Period Things did not start well at all. Brandon Hagel ended up getting the opening goal within the first 11 seconds of the game after beating his defender clean on body position, and put the puck straight past Swayman for the Lightning to go up 1-0. Mercifully, the Bruins managed to take advantage […]
What more could you want out of a hockey game? Ten goals, a dynamic overtime, a furious comeback, so many pirates, and a goalie fight. The Tampa Bay Lightning battled back from an atrocious first period to overcome a 5-1 deficit and defeated the Boston Bruins 6-5 in a shootout before 64,000 fans in Raymond James.
Nikita Kucherov celebrated his NHL First Star of the Month Award by recording a goal and three assists as the Lightning converted three power play goals in under six minutes to c...
Welcome to Sunday afternoon/evening, folks! The Bruins and the Lightning will take it outside for an Atlantic Division showdown at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It’s actually forecast to be pretty chilly in Tampa on Sunday afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-to-low 40s (F). The forecast for Wednesday is 70º F, so…much better to try […]
Game Fifty-Three: Boston Bruins (30-20-5) at Tampa Bay Lightning (34-14-4)
Time: 6:30 PM EST
Location: Raymond James Stadium, Home of the Two-Time Super Bowl Champions
TV/Stream/Radio: ESPN, ESPN+
Odds: Lightning -225
Know the Opponents: Stanley Cup of Chowder
“We’re going to treat this game just like any other.”
That’s how Brandon Hagel answered the question when he was asked about the importance of the Lightning’s match-up against their division rival Bosto...