The Backcheck: Guentzel scores late, Johansson stable as Bolts push win streak to five

Why stop at four?

The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their win streak to five consecutive games with Sunday afternoon's 4-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth behind a game-winning goal from Jake Guentzel and the latest strong performance via goalie Jonas Johansson.

The Lightning had one win streak of five-plus games last season when they won eight consecutive matchups from Feb. 4 to March 1.

Tampa Bay is 6-4-2 on the season after Sunday, a game that kickstarted a three-game road trip which continues with a 9:30 p.m. matchup against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

The Lightning had to claw back from a first period deficit on Sunday, as Utah’s Lawson Crouse scored on a breakaway following a Lightning turnover in the offensive zone. Tampa Bay found their game shortly after the 1-0 goal and held off an Utah push.

“This team, they’re good,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Utah… “I remember last year we came in here and they tore us apart. A big thing for us was protecting the middle of the ice, and I thought we did a really good job of that. Now you know you give up a breakaway 10 minutes in, but I really liked the way we responded. Really didn’t give them too much after that. Unfortunately they tied the game there at two, but again, really wasn’t feeling crazy stress. We weren’t giving up big odd-man rushes, and then Guentz gets a big one for us and it’s fortunate we could shut it down. That’s the only way we could win tonight, and the guys played well.”

The visitors’ first goal of the night came on a give-and-go passing play between forward Yanni Gourde and defenseman Emil Lilleberg.

Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons left a drop pass for Gourde in the offensive zone, and Gourde passed to an open Lilleberg at the top of the circles. The defenseman quickly tapped the puck back to Gourde near the right goalpost, and the latter had an open net for the tying goal.

“It’s always nice to show up there, but our work is kind of just forechecking and playing simple,” Girgensons said of his line scoring, “and when you do that, usually good things will turn up.”

The goal was Gourde’s third of the season, while Lilleberg’s helper was his first point of 2025-26.

Anthony Cirelli gave Tampa Bay its first lead on Sunday by firing his team-leading seventh goal through Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka just 2 minutes, 47 seconds into the second period.

Cirelli teed up a one-timer from atop the left faceoff circle, sending his shot into the top right corner of the net after a pass from Guentzel.

Seattle matched the score 2:21 into the third period with Kailer Yamamoto’s goal from the left faceoff circle. Defenseman Ian Cole dished a backhand pass from the right point to a waiting Yamamoto, who shelved his shot to even the game.

Guentzel’s first game-winning goal of the season came with 7:54 remaining and was the forward’s second point of the night. Guentzel circled the net and released a shot that evaded Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka inside the right goalpost.

“Just a good won draw by Tony and Pointer going to the net there to open up some space and (I) just tried to throw it on net and catch him off guard,” Guentzel said of the goal. “So, you take them as they come and you move on, and it’s a big win for us.”

With Tampa Bay defending their lead, goalie Jonas Johansson was tested late. The Lightning goaltender turned aside 11 of 12 shots in the third period, including a few tests of the glove, and finished with 25 saves for his third win of the year.

“JoJo, he’s always great. He definitely saved us a couple times today, more than a couple,” Girgensons said after the game. “It’s always nice to see JoJo do well.”

Johansson told the Lightning Radio Network after Sunday’s game that the defensive showing was a team effort against a Utah team that hadn’t lost on home ice this season prior to facing the Lightning.

"They've got a good team. A lot of good scorers on that team, so they're going to win a lot of games this year, and I just think we handled it really well as a group,” the goalie said. “Guys did a great job in front of me, making me see the puck and stuff, so good game overall."

Tampa Bay capped the night with an empty-net goal from Brandon Hagel, who extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.

The team will hope its win streak continues to grow as their road trip continues in Colorado on Tuesday before a visit to Vegas on Thursday.

“Don’t change the way we’re playing,” Cooper said. “This is a grind because now we have a really high-level Colorado team, and then we gotta go in and play Vegas, so just can’t take our feet off the gas. We had a slow start to the season and kind of clawed our way back here, but it’s a long way to go.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Jake Guentzel, TBL (Game-winning goal, assist)
2. Ian Cole, UTA (Two assists)
3. Jonas Johansson, TBL (25 saves)