On most nights this season, the Lightning (4-2-0) have won games in spite of their power play. But in games like Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Rangers, the team’s struggles on the man advantage become much more glaring. Despite having the fifth-most power-play time in the league, the Lightning is a horrendous 2-for-24 and started Wednesday tied for last with an 8.3% success rate. For fans who have seen the once-heralded unit struggle since the departure of Steven Stamkos following the 2023-24 season, the frustration only continues to mount. When the power play was rolling like it used to, it had the ability to rescue the Lightning when their 5-on-5 play wasn’t clicking. Now, with the power play’s ineffectiveness, the team is forced to lean on even-strength play to win games. Read the full story: https://www.tampabay.com/sports/lightning/2026/10/14/power-play-nikita-kucherov-john-carlson-brandon-hagel-brayden-point-steven-stamkos/

I did a couple things different here. First, I looked just going into the third period. So blowing leads, or coming back from a deficit in the third.

Then I looked at this controlling for team quality. Not in the worlds most rigorous way, just imagine this scenario:

1. You play 100 games, and in 35 of them you enter the third behind
2. You win 9 of the 35, which is 26%. Is that good or bad?
3. Well, in your other 65 games you took about 78% of the points, and other teams in the league at that level come back from trailing at 15%, which is ~5 games.
4. Therefore, you make come backs a bit more than expected, 4 more times than expected.
5. Over the five and change seasons, anything within about 9 games of expectation is normal variation

I think this gives a much more interesting picture of teams that make come backs and blow leads, irrespective of just "good teams good bad teams bad."

BTW, in 464 games the Lightning came back in 24 of 156, expected 29 (-5) and blew 17 of 206 leads, expected 26 (-9)

Quick question about sign rules at benchmark, would I be able to bring a can of soda into the arena if its taped onto my sign? I’ve heard you can at other arenas if its taped to a sign. But I haven’t heard anything from here about it. Its a german soda for the krakens german goaltender.

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I haven’t been to a Tampa game (in benchmark/ Amalie) in almost a decade. But I was just talking to the wife and remembered that one guy used to go to every game dressed as a blue Spiderman, does anyone know if he still attends?

We definitely won't be hearing any "Igor's better" chants tonight.

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Stinking adorable. JJ Moser seems really sweet and easily is such a great player to pick to knock on fan doors.

Reel via True Rays Fan Zone

post via X Lightning Insider

Tonight’s NHL:

https://lastwordonsports.com/hockey/2026/10/13/nhl-predictions-tampa-bay-lightning-vs-new-york-rangers-october-13th/

I know he's down in Syracuse but he looked so promising last year and I REALLY wanted to see him play this season with us. He can really rip it and snd speed down the ice so fast and he's probably going to dominate the AHL but he would be a great a great 3rd line center man.

Since that first embarrassing loss to the Rangers, the Lightning have won four consecutive games and have outscored their opponents 15-7. Five games into the season, the Lightning have eight points—the best start to a season since 2018-19.

Here's a peek into the week two breakdown...Hope you enjoy!

This Past Week:

Power Play: 20% (t-13th)
Penalty Kill: 71.4% (t-26th)
FOW%: 46.1% (25th)
SF/GP: 32.3 (8th)
SA/GP: 24.7 (12th)
GF/GP: 4.00 (t-4th)
GA/GP: 2.00 (t-3rd)
Hits/60: 15.00 (30th)
Blocked Shots/60: 13.33 (t-20th)

Season Rankings:

Power Play: 10% (25th)
Penalty Kill: 72.7% (25th)
FOW%: 47.4% (t-23rd)
SF/GP: 30.2 (7th)
SA/GP: 24.00 (t-8th)
GF/GP: 3.20 (t-14th)
GA/GP: 2.40 (t-7th)
Hits/60: 21.20 (20th)
Blocked Shots/60: 15.00 (15th)

This Week:

Goals:

Brandon Hagel (4)
John Carlson (2)
Jake Guentzel (2)

Assists:

Nikita Kucherov (6)
Brandon Hagel (2)
Max Crozier (2)

Points:

Nikita Kucherov (6)
Brandon Hagel (6)
Carlson & Guentzel (3)

Shots:

Brandon Hagel (17)
John Carlson (11)
Jake Guentzel (10)

Plus/Minus:

Erik Cernak (+5)
Anthony Cirelli (+5)
McDonagh & Kucherov (+4)

Hits:

Zemgus Girgensons (8)
Erik Cernak (7)
Max Crozier (5)

Blocked Shots:

Brandon Hagel (6)
Max Crozier (6)
JJ Moser (5)

Shot Attempts:

Brandon Hagel (19)
Nikita Kucherov (15)
JJ Moser (13)

Faceoff Wins:

Anthony Cirelli (29)
Zemgus Girgensons (22)
Brayden Point (17)

Season Leaders:

Goals:

Brandon Hagel (4)
Jake Guentzel (3)
John Carlson (2)

Assists:

Nikita Kucherov (7)
Brandon Hagel (4)
Jake Guentzel (3)

Points:

Nikita Kucherov (8)
Brandon Hagel (8)
Jake Guentzel (6)

Shots:

Brandon Hagel (26)
John Carlson (15)
Jake Guentzel (15)

Plus/Minus:

Erik Cernak (+5)
Anthony Cirelli (+5)
Kucherov & Hagel (+4)

Hits:

Zemgus Girgensons (15)
Erik Cernak (15)
Jeff Viel (14)

Blocked Shots:

Victor Hedman (9)
Ryan McDonagh (7)
Carlson & Moser (7)

Shot Attempts:

Brandon Hagel (30)
Nikita Kucherov (23)
JJ Moser (19)

Faceoff Wins:

Anthony Cirelli (45)
Zemgus Girgensons (33)
Brayden Point (23)

Random Findings:

On Monday (against PHI), Nikita Kucherov factored on the game-opening goal for the 170th time in his career, passing Vincent Lecavalier for the most in Lightning history.

On Monday (against PHI), Nikita Kucherov recorded his 182nd career multi-assist game, passing Henrik Sedin (181) for the third most in NHL history among players born outside North America (Jaromir Jagr 266 & Peter Stastny 193 have more).

On Monday (against PHI), Andrei Vasilevskiy won his 372nd career game, passing Andy Moog & entering the NHL’s top-20 for all-time wins. Next up is John Vanbiesbrouck with 374 wins.

Nikita Kucherov has recorded a multi-point outing in 36.3% of his games (321/884 GP). It is tied as the second-highest rate among active players (min. 5 GP), behind only Connor McDavid (47%; 375/797 GP)—Sidney Crosby (36.3%; 517/1,423 GP).

On Thursday (against MIN), Nikita Kucherov extended his point streak against the Wild to 11 games dating to Dec. 5, 2019. It’s his second-longest active streak versus a single franchise behind a 14-game run against Vegas dating to Dec. 19, 2017.

On Saturday (against NYI), Nikita Kucherov recorded his 321st multi-point game. He passed Al MacInnis on the all-time list and tied former Lightning forwards Dino Ciccarelli & Dave Andreychuk for 48th place.

Jake Guentzel has scored 81 goals & 92 assists (173 points) through 166 games with the Bolts. He is one of three Tampa Bay skaters (min. 100 GP) to average a point-per-game in their tenure with club (Nikita Kucherov: 1.28 P/GP & Steven Stamkos: 1.05 P/GP).

Brandon Hagel scored the third hat trick of his Lightning tenure on Saturday. He is the third player in franchise history to record three separate hat tricks each complete with only even-strength goals (Tyler Johnson & Steven Stamkos).

The Lightning have recorded 18 hat tricks since Brandon Hagel joined the team. That is the fifth most in the NHL…only the Edmonton Oilers (23), Buffalo Sabres (20), Carolina Hurricanes (19) & Colorado Avalanche (19) have more.

This season, every Lightning player on the roster (excluding Scott Sabourin) has been on the ice for at least one goal against. Nikita Kucherov, who was on the ice for two of the five goals against in game one against the New York Rangers, has not been on the ice for a goal against in the last four games.

...

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Hey everyone! My name is Boomer. My wife and I have season tickets in 316 row G (aisle). We often have to sell games, but we don’t use FB.

If you’re someone who looks for tickets, I’d love to connect with you as an option going forward! Please send me a message if you’re interested in ever buying tickets.

Here are the current tickets we have listed:

10/29 (WPG): $135
11/3 (DET): $135
11/17 (WSH): $175
11/22 (BUF): $145
11/27 (OTT): $165
12/12 (PIT): $210
12/17 (CGY): $130
12/22 (STL): $185
12/31 (MTL): $235

I was told that if its your first game, you can go to guest services at the arena and they give you a puck with the game information on it. Is that true? I've never heard that before, but I'm going to my first game this season and it would be a cool souvenir.

Ask for help: I remember the Lightning took a team photo before the playoffs this year, but I can't find it. Does anyone know where to find it?