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...
about 1 month ago
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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...
about 1 month ago
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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...
about 1 month ago
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Well, all the fun is over. The Stadium Series Game. The Olympics. The glorious Olympic Break. Now it’s time to get back to the grind of making the playoffs and competing for the Stanley Cup. The good news is that, standings-wise, the Tampa Bay Lightning are in pretty good shape. The bad news is that they can’t seem to shake the injury bug.
As play is set to resume, the Lightning sit atop the Atlantic Division with 78 points, a six-point edge over second-place Montreal. More importantly, t...
about 1 month ago
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Jake Guentzel may not have had the biggest impact on the stat sheet, but he has the ultimate bragging rights in the locker room as he was part of Team USA’s historic win in Milan. Guentzel comes back to Tampa with the gold medal as the Americans defeated Team Canada in overtime, 2-1, on Jack Hughes’ goal less than two minutes into the bonus session.
Forty-six years to the day of the Miracle on Ice, the United States pulled off the win. It wasn’t quite a “Do you believe in miracles?” level...
about 1 month ago
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It’s time for the ultimate locker room bragging rights as Jake Guentzel and his USA teammates take on Brandon Hagel and Team Canada for the gold medal in hockey. The two powerhouses didn’t disappoint as they bring perfect records into the gold medal game with Canada coming back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Finland 3-2 and the Americans blowing open a close game against Slovakia with three second period goal on the way to a 6-2 final.
Finland took the bronze medal on Saturday with a 6-1 win ...
about 1 month ago
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It took overtime, but Megan Keller’s overtime goal proved to be golden as Team USA took down Canada , 2-1, in the women’s gold medal game at the Olympics. Unlike the 5-0 blowout in the preliminary rounds, the two hockey powerhouses battled all game long with Canada taking the early lead on a Kristin O’Neill short-handed goal. Hilary Knight, playing in her final Olympic game, dialed up the heroics as she scored with just over two minutes to go in the game and the American net empty.
That s...
about 1 month ago
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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.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tampa Bay Lightning (@tblightning)
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...
about 1 month ago
· 3 reads
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...
about 1 month ago
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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 – ...
about 2 months ago
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In early Tuesday action over in Milan Switzerland defeated Italy 3-0 and Germany ended France’s run in the Olympics. Both outcomes were expected and the two victors will move on to the quarter-final round. J.J. Moser was held off the scoreboard, but registered two shots in his 17:38 of action. Meanwhile, Wojciech Stachowiak was a healthy scratch in Germany’s 5-1 victory over France.
The lone goal by the French was scored by old friend Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who announced his retirement...
about 2 months ago
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Well folks, the fun part is over. From here on out, it’s win or go home at the Olympics. Sunday night, Team USA closed out the preliminary round with a 5-1 victory over Germany. The win helped them to the second seed with Canada taking the number one position. Now that the round is over let’s check out the updated Tampa Bay Lightning standings (now with Erik Cernak!)
Player Games Goals Assists Wins WALT* J.J. Moser 3 1 3 1 0 Victor Hedman 3 1 1 2 1 Zemgus Girgensons 3 0 4 1 1 Wojciech Sta...
about 2 months ago
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The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is fully underway over in Milan with each country having completed at least once. While things got off to a bit of a shocking start as Slovakia upset Finland and Italy gave Sweden all they could handle, the second day of hockey went chalk as Switzerland took down France 4-0, Canada took out Czechia 5-0, the United Stated upended Latvia 5-1 with Zemgus thinking the Latvians just made too many mistakes , and Germany took out Denmark 3-1.
Friday’s action w...
about 2 months ago
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The long-awaited return of NHL hockey to the Winter Olympics finally gets underway today as the mens portion of the tournament begins with Finland hosting Slovakia at 10:40 AM EST. That is followed up by Sweden versus Italy at 3:10 PM EST.
No injury was going to keep Victor Hedman from his first Olympics [ Tampa Bay Times ]
After being snubbed in 2014, Victor Hedman had his heart set on making it to the Olympics this year. He wasn’t going to let something as trifling as an elbow...
about 2 months ago
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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 ...
about 2 months ago
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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...
about 2 months ago
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For some members of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a much-needed break in the regular season gets underway today. The NHL is officially shut down for the next few weeks as the attention of the hockey world shifts to Italy and the 2026 Winter Olympics. After 12 years, NHL players are back for a best-on-best tournament (minus, of course, the Russians) and the players are excited to be heading overseas for a chance to earn a gold medal, as well as locker room bragging rights.
Even with Brayden Poi...
about 2 months ago
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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...
about 2 months ago
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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...
about 2 months ago
· 7 reads
Out of all of the players having success for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season, the unlikeliest of them is Darren Raddysh. A healthy scratch at points early in the season, there was some speculation that he might not even make it to the new year on the roster. Not only did he stick around, he found himself on the top pairing and is having a career season.
So why is he a problem? Well. As far as Coach Jon Cooper is concerned, he’s not a problem. Having more good defenseman than you have ...
about 2 months ago
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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...
about 2 months ago
· 9 reads
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...
Game Fifty-Four: Buffalo Sabres (32-20-4) at Tampa Bay Lightning (35-14-4)
Time: 7:30 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Site of 13 NHL Stanley Cup Final Games
TV/Stream/Radio: Hulu, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -200
Know the Opponents: Die By the Blade
Do y’all remember that last stretch of days in high school or college right before a long holiday break? You know, the last day or so before Christmas or Spring Break when it was extr...
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...
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...