Chase history.
That’s what the Tampa Bay Lightning will do on Friday, as they can earn their 12th consecutive win when they face the St. Louis Blues. It would mark the longest win streak in franchise history.
That historic chase was made possible by the team’s back-to-back sweep to open this week, when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 on Monday before hanging on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in a shootout on Tuesday.
Their 11-game win streak is the franchise's first since they went on an 11-game run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 17 in 2020.
“It’s a long way from winning one in our first seven to start the year,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after Tuesday’s victory. “There’s just tons of buy-in. Great group, leaders phenomenal. Check a lot of boxes of things you want in a team, and the guys are getting rewarded. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Lightning are now 29-13-3 and continue play on Friday against the St. Louis Blues. Their 11-game streak is the longest by any team this season.
Bolts match NHL-best win streak but lose Point to injury on Monday
Monday’s win saw the Lightning match the longest win streak by any team in the league this season, but the Bolts also lost another player to injury in the process.
Tampa Bay beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 at XFinity Mobile Arena, tying 10-game win streaks posted by the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche in 2025-26.
“Crazy thing is you need them because everyone in our division is winning,” Cooper said of the streak. “You reel off nine, 10 in a row and you feel like you haven’t gained ground on anybody, so it’s a testament to the teams in our division. The guys know the difference between right and wrong and what they need to be doing, and it’s a pretty darn good collective effort right now from the boys.”
Another fast start got the visitors going on Monday night, as Pontus Holmberg handed the Lightning a 1-0 lead only 70 seconds into the game when he fired a loose puck through Flyers goalie Dan Vladar from the bottom of the left circle.
“The first goal is always important,” Holmberg said. “It’s been a good start for us these two games. We want to score the first goal of course, but if we don’t do that, we just keep going and keep rolling.”
Jake Guentzel made it 2-0 Lightning with a quick goal to open the second period. Defenseman Erik Cernak’s shot from the point bounced off Guentzel’s leg near the net and found its way home 33 seconds into the middle frame for the forward’s 20th goal of the season.
The Lightning extended their lead with a Brayden Point goal on a rebound chance during a power-play 4:29 into the second period, but Point had to be helped off the ice with an apparent leg injury after getting tangled up with Flyers defenseman Cam York in the rush for the loose puck and did not return.
Cooper did not have an update on Point after Monday but reported before Tuesday’s game that Point is week-to-week, saying the team avoided the worst case scenario.
“Unfortunately for us this year, we’ve seen a lot of that,” Cooper said of the injury postgame."The tough part for Pointer is his game had really turned the corner and it seemed like he was scoring every night for us. And let’s talk about the elephant in the room, there’s a big tournament coming up in a month and he’s a big part of us. Let’s just hope everything turns out alright.”
Philadelphia grabbed some momentum in the second period, cutting into the lead with a goal at 4-on-4. Forward Christian Dvorak got the Flyers on the board by burying his shot from the right faceoff circle on a 2-on-1 rush a little over a minute after the Lightning had extended their lead.
Tampa Bay got their cushion goal with 31 seconds left in the middle frame, this time on a Hagel power-play goal. Hagel accepted a pass from Darren Raddysh while filling in on the top power play for Point and then ripped a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Vladar to the right half of the net.
Nikita Kucherov capped the night with an empty-net goal, extending his multi-point streak to nine games. The streak ties the franchise record, set by Steven Stamkos in April 2022, and also ties Stamkos for the longest by any active NHL player.
Hagel and Guentzel each finished with a goal and assist, and Raddysh finished with a pair of assists for the Bolts.
"When you win 10 in a row, everyone's gotta do their job. We got saves when we needed them, PK when we needed it, power play when we needed it, and I think that's a big part of why we're on the streak we are,” Hagel said of the win postgame.
Despite missing one of their top players in Point, the Lightning were able to get the two points and extend their win streak. Hagel said Point leaving due to injury was frightening, and the team wanted to get the win for their injured teammate.
“It’s a scary feeling, especially when you see the way he went down and the way he grabbed whatever it was. Obviously that’s scary, but hopefully he’ll be okay and back at it again because he’s a guy that’s scored 50 goals, over 500 points. You name it, he’s got it. Stanley Cups. When you lose a guy like that, that’s obviously going to be scary for everyone, but I think everyone just wanted to do it for him.”
Goalie Jonas Johansson was solid once again in net for Tampa Bay, making 20 saves to earn his third consecutive win. He is now 5-1-1 in his last seven games.
The win was also Cooper’s 600th in the NHL. He became the second-fastest coach in NHL history to the mark, doing so in his 1,005th career game. Only Hockey Hall of Fame member Scotty Bowman reached 600 wins faster (1,002 games).
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Jake Guentzel, TBL (Goal, assist)
- Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, assist)
- Jonas Johansson, TBL (20 saves)
