The FourCheck: A Syracuse shoutout, injury updates and a nod to Hags and Vasy

With the Tampa Bay Lightning preparing for Thursday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, we are somehow already approaching the quarter mark of the 2025-26 NHL season.

The 2026 Winter Olympics have accelerated this season’s schedule, and games are flying by nearly every other day. The league standings and playoff predictions change every night. And the Lightning are once again in the mix, waking up Wednesday morning in a playoff position.

The 20-game mark offers us a chance to see what’s working for Tampa Bay, which has faced a mighty challenge on the injury front they didn’t see one season ago.

Tampa Bay played their in-state rival Florida Panthers on Saturday without seven members of the team’s usual cast, including captain Victor Hedman, defensive expert Ryan McDonagh, as well as two of the team's co-leaders for goals in Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli.

Adversity is present, yet the Lightning remain focused and confident. Tampa Bay is 10-7-2 this season and held the final wildcard playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after the team’s latest victory.

Let’s dive into some of the latest storylines hovering around the Lightning, including a shoutout to organizational depth, an injury report, Brandon Hagel’s boon and Vasilevskiy’s stretch of Ws.

1. Shoutout Syracuse

How often in the hockey sphere do we talk about the importance of depth?

All. The. Time.

You need it in your NHL lineup, and you need it throughout your organizational depth chart. In recent weeks, the Lightning have exhibited both.

Just look at last weekend’s lineup against the Panthers, as the Lightning faced the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs without the previously mentioned cast as well as Nick Paul, Pontus Holmberg and rookie Dominic James.

In came reinforcements from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL), as five players from Saturday appeared in Syracuse’s 2025-26 opening night lineup.

Forward Boris Katchouk played his second game of the season for Tampa Bay after not playing an NHL game all last season. Lightning coach Jon Cooper called him arguably the team’s best player in last Wednesday’s game against the Rangers, and he was again effective as a center and penalty killer.

Scott Sabourin set up Jack Finley’s first career NHL goal in the 3-1 win over the Panthers only days after scoring on a laser beam of a snap shot in his Bolts debut Nov. 12.

Jakob Pelletier also got his first Lightning game since signing a three-year contract with the team this summer. He co-leads the Crunch in scoring this season.

Sabourin was reassigned to Syracuse on Wednesday, but he was part of a gigantic presence—both literally and metaphorically—over the past week.

Sabourin developed some quick chemistry with the hulking rookie duo of Finley and Curtis Douglas. All three of the big guys scored two points across their first two games together, which included Sabourin’s first NHL goal since 2020 and Finley’s NHL first.

The line combined to stand 19’ 7” tall, the third-biggest of any trio of NHL teammates this season. They played 7 minutes, 54 seconds together in their debut as a trio, while the only two taller NHL lines (of the New York Rangers) didn’t play even a minute together.

Sabourin challenged numerous Panthers players to a fight on Saturday, but none were willing to accept.

“I think it's a big part of our game, getting in on the forecheck and making sure the other team knows we're there,” Douglas said of the line, mentioning playing against Sabourin in the AHL. “He’s a hard player to play against as well, and I think he adds that toughness to our line. It's hard to play against us when we're out there, and it kind of opens up the ice for some other guys, which is great.”

Throw in the ascensions of previously recalled defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous and James, and suddenly the Lightning have plenty of NHL options in the fold.

And just when you thought Syracuse might get a break from helping with reinforcements, we saw the recalls and season debuts of defensemen Steven Santini and Declan Carlile on Tuesday against New Jersey.

Santini is Syracuse’s captain this season, while Carlile leads the AHL team’s blue line in scoring with 10 points in 15 games.

The Lightning are going to have decisions to make when they return to full health. With numerous players on injured reserve and Paul getting closer to his season debut after offseason surgery, those choices might be tougher than many anticipated.

“Awesome choices,” Cooper said after an October practice. “I'd rather have the tough choice than the easy one, where it's just like, ‘Okay, it's easy to pull this guy out because he hasn't been doing very well.’ I'd rather have the hard decision of having to sit a kid that's been playing unreal because everybody's playing unreal.”

That’s a great problem to have, one assistant coach Dan Hinote on Monday credited to a focused training camp in September.

“We were winning (preseason) games, and guys were getting rewarded with statistics and also playing time. And I think now these guys that are coming up, they're already familiar because we went through that. When you go through any kind of basic training or training camp, you build that camaraderie through adversity, and we had plenty of that built into our practices,” Hinote said.

“So the boys battled against each other. Iron sharpens iron, but also it builds a little bit of a bond between you. So when they come up, there's some familiarity, there's some joy, and then they're able to play at their peak.”

2. Injury situation

Every NHL team sees it at some point every season, but the Lightning injuries have piled up.

Lightning players have combined to miss 60 games due to injury this season. The team finished with 75 man games lost in the entire 2024-25 regular season.

Only the Vancouver Canucks (29) have topped Tampa Bay’s 28 different skaters appearing in an NHL game this season. The Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins all have utilized 27 skaters.

We saw each of Hagel, Cirelli and James return to game action this week, and others might not be far behind.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, two new names appeared on the injury list on Tuesday morning, as defenseman Max Crozier was placed on IR due to a lower-body injury and fellow defender Erik Cernak didn’t play against the Devils.

Cernak, who left Sunday’s game late in the second period with an apparent injury before returning to finish, participated in Tuesday’s optional morning skate and is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Here is where the medical list sits for Tampa Bay ahead of Thursday’s game:

• Hagel: It was good to see one of Tampa Bay’s top offensive weapons return to the lineup on Sunday, and his scoring wasn’t affected by the one game off after leaving the Nov. 12 game after only 2:26 of ice time. He played more than 20 minutes in Tuesday’s win over the Devils and has maintained a torrid pace (more on that shortly).

• Cirelli: No. 71 made his return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game after missing four games, playing 18:31 and assisting on the game-winner in the first period.

• James: The rookie Lightning forward also appeared on Tuesday while wearing a bubble cage to protect his face. Tuesday marked James’ return after a three-game absence due to taking a puck to the face in a Nov. 8 game against Washington.

• Paul: We continue to await the season debut of Nick Paul after offseason wrist surgery, but he’s been a steady presence at Lightning practices over the last few weeks. We could see him as soon as Thursday night. Paul scored 22 goals last season.

• Hedman: Tampa Bay’s captain has skated in Lightning practices despite missing the previous four games, and Cooper on Saturday grouped him with Hagel and Cirelli as the next closest to a return.

• Holmberg: We saw Holmberg take a positive step in his recovery by also partaking in Tuesday’s optional skate, his first time on ice with his teammates since also suffering an injury against the Capitals on Nov. 8.

• McDonagh: Tampa Bay’s veteran defenseman is officially eligible to return after being placed on IR on Nov. 9, but we have yet to see him skate since playing 6:19 on Nov. 8.

• Crozier: Lightning assistant coach Rob Zettler told us on Tuesday morning that the 25-year-old rookie suffered a lower-body injury during Sunday’s game against the Canucks and then “tweaked” it in practice on Monday. The Lightning will be without Crozier until at least next week when he’s first eligible to return from IR.

3. How about Hagel?

The scoring chances have been there all season for Hagel since opening night, but points were harder to find early on.

That is certainly no longer the case.

Over his previous 11 games dating back to Oct. 25, Hagel has posted five multi-point efforts to score seven goals and 14 points. That puts him just outside the NHL’s top 20 scorers in that time, while his 11 even-strength points tie him for 12th-most.

He is back to the scoring frenzy fans have come to expect from the winger.

Hagel ranks third on the team in goals and points (15). Earlier this month, he became only the 15th player in franchise history to score 100 goals as a Bolt, hitting the mark on Nov. 6.

Hagel owns 98 goals since the start of the 2022-23 season, the third-most of any Lightning player behind only the 142 posted by Brayden Point and 120 tallied by Nikita Kucherov.

Cirelli most often shares the ice with Hagel both at even strength and on the penalty kill. His common linemate said Hagel has been “unbelievable” for the Lightning again this year.

“The way he works, the plays that he makes, he's always in the right spots. He's a guy that does everything for our team. He brings the energy. He's feisty,” Cirelli said. “I don't think he was playing bad, just was getting some bad bounces early on. And you see how it's been the past couple weeks. The chances are there and he’s put them in. So, like I said, he's a guy that does everything for us.”

His teammates continued to mention their confidence in No. 38 at the beginning of the season, and they have enjoyed seeing him get rewarded with recent offense.

“He's been playing fantastic,” forward Yanni Gourde said of Hagel last week. “To be honest, since the beginning of the year. His speed, his ability to make plays, the way he carries the puck up and down the ice, it's fun to watch. He plays with tremendous passion, and he's an amazing player for us. He brings a ton of energy, and it's fun to have him.”

The 27-year-old forward is fresh off a career-best 90-point season in 2024-25 and continues his push to join Cooper and some Lightning teammates at the 2026 Winter Olympics for Team Canada.

He acknowledged after scoring the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals earlier this month that his start to the season was frustrating. To his credit, he took it in stride, and now the bounces are going his way.

“I think it got a little frustrating there early. Obviously you know that you go on little streaks throughout the season that goals start to go in for you. That's just the reality of hockey. It happens to everyone. Mine just happened at the start of the season, and that was as painful as it got. But finally, there's still a chance I may still have it,” he said with a smile postgame. “So hopefully they continue to go in.”

4. Vascinating

It’s no secret that Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the greatest goalies in NHL history, and he’s shown it lately.

Vasilevskiy is 7-3-1 over his last 11 games while posting a .918 save percentage. His seven wins over the last calendar month were tied for second-most of any NHL netminder as of Wednesday morning.

He has allowed only 22 goals against since Oct. 19, the fewest of any goalie with at least 10 starts. His .915 save percentage on that same list of goalies is second-best in the NHL behind only the .926 posted by San Jose’s Yaroslav Askarov.

“I think Vasy has gone the way our team's gone. And when we struggled early, I can't sit here and say Vasy struggled. We left him out there,” Cooper said one week ago. “But I thought as our team's game improved, Vas, he's been good for us. It's the saves at big moments when you need them, and that's what Vas has done for us. You can see his numbers are starting to creep into the area they should be and usually are, and that's a good sign.”

After the Lightning won seven of eight games from Oct. 25 to Nov. 8, goalie Jonas Johansson talked about his net partner’s ability to stabilize the Lightning in times of on-ice stress.

“Important saves at important moments in games,” Johansson said of Vasilevskiy during that run. “So when the team's been having a little bad stretch in a game, he's been there to make the save for us, and that's part of the reason why we’ve got a lot of success lately.”

Tampa Bay’s starting goalie hit a pair of milestones last season, appearing in his 500th NHL start and also becoming the fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach 300 career wins.

His climb up the all-time history books has continued already in 2025-26.

He passed former Lightning netminder Nikolai Khabibulin (333) for the third-most NHL wins by a Russian-born goalie. He also surpassed 15,000 career saves this month, becoming one of only six active goalies to reach the milestone.

He was front and center in Tuesday’s win at Benchmark International Arena. Vasilevskiy was repeatedly tested in the first period against the Devils, stacking together 14 saves through the opening 20 minutes alone.

It was one of his finer displays of the season, evidenced by a key save in the middle frame—with five minutes remaining in the second period of a 3-0 game, Vasilevskiy made a sprawling glove save to keep the Devils off the board.

He finished with 31 saves and has posted a save percentage above .950 in three of his last four starts.

“I think everything kind of starts with him,” Jeff Halpern said of Vasilevskiy postgame Tuesday. “He’s been the backbone of this team for as long as I’ve been here and before that…When he gives our team that confidence, I think it shows up in both ends of the ice. He always looks big, but I think when he’s on his game like he was tonight, he looks that much bigger.”

Members of the team repeat it often—the Lightning go as Vasy goes, and both are off and running.

Now 9-3-0 in their last 12 games, Tampa Bay will look to keep that going among a heated Eastern Conference race as they pass the quarter mark of the season.

Note: Quick shoutout to Halpern, who filled in as head coach on Tuesday with Cooper missing the game due to personal reasons. Although temporary, Halpern officially boasts a perfect 1.000 winning percentage as the bench leader. To no surprise, he was quick during his postgame presser to credit the players and team as a whole, but he deserves a nod as well. Congrats to Halpern on the win.