Everything you need to know ahead of the Lightning's matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday:
When: Saturday, December 20 - 7 p.m. ET
Where: Benchmark International Arena - Tampa, FL
TV coverage: The Spot - Tampa Bay 66 (check local listings)
Radio coverage: 102.5 MHz-FM, Lightning Radio 24/7
Stream: TampaBayLightning.com/Stream Now
Lines from Thursday's game (subject to change)
Oliver Bjorkstrand - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel - Anthony Cirelli - Nick Paul
Zemgus Girgensons - Yanni Gourde - Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas - Dominic James - Gage Goncalves
Defensemen
JJ Moser - Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D'Astous - Max Crozier
Declan Carlile - Max Crozier
Goaltenders
Jonas Johansson
Saturday's Matchup
The Tampa Bay Lightning will play the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time in 2025-26 when the latter visits Benchmark International Arena on Saturday...Tampa Bay will also visit Carolina in February before the three-game series concludes back in Tampa on March 14...The Lightning are 73-53-21 all-time against the Hurricanes, including 44-22-6 on home ice...Martin St. Louis is the franchise’s career scoring leader against Carolina, posting 38-48—86 over 75 games, while Nikita Kucherov leads active players with 12-28—40 in 29 games...Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is 15-6-3 with a .928 career save percentage when playing Carolina with a pair of shutouts, and net partner Jonas Johansson is 1-1-0 with a .938 save percentage and one clean slate...Tampa Bay went 2-1-0 against Carolina last season, outscoring the Hurricanes 8-7...Kucherov led the Lightning with 3-2—5 in three games, while Victor Hedman, Jake Guentzel and Darren Raddysh each had three assists...Vasilevskiy started all three games of last season’s series, going 2-1-0 with a .916 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average.
Tampa Bay Sports Item of the Game
2026 Stadium Series Collection
Gear up for the 2026 Stadium Series game today! Jerseys and the full merchandise collection are available now, in store at Benchmark International Arena and online at TampaBaySports.com, while supplies last.
The Road Ahead
Saturday, December 20 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Monday, December 22 vs. St. Louis Blues
Saturday, December 27 at Florida Panthers
