Sure, the night opened with one of the uglier starts of the 2025-26 season.
But Saturday ended with one of the greatest regular season comebacks the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise has seen in nearly 15 years.
Tampa Bay defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 at Benchmark International Arena despite trailing 3-0 after the first period. It marked the first time a Lightning team has won a game after trailing 3-0 in a first period since Nov. 6, 2011 and was just the third such instance in franchise history (also March 7, 2003).
“I'm proud of the guys for digging in because that first period was one to forget,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “But for them to find a way and move on, it was much needed, obviously.”
Tampa Bay improved to 19-13-3 with the win.
The Lightning did have to overcome perhaps their slowest start of the season on Saturday.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead just 2:42 into the game after a turnover in the Lightning defensive zone, as Eric Robinson buried a one-timer from the right corner.
The Hurricanes doubled their lead with Jackson Blake’s redirection on a power play four minutes into the game, and another power-play goal from Bradly Nadeau made it 3-0 Carolina with 7:33 left in the opening frame.
Luckily for the home team, the second period was an entirely different story, and it didn’t take long to unfold.
Gage Goncalves got the Lightning going by scoring 30 seconds into the middle frame atop the crease. Dominic James drove the net from beneath the goal line in the right corner and passed to Goncalves in front of the net for the one-timed shot.
The 3-1 goal began a second period push for the Lightning in which the hosts outshot Carolina 14-6 and came back to tie the game 3-3.
“There’s a lot of accountability on this team. It's been there from the get-go, and a lot of guys were speaking up here in the room after that period,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “We were embarrassed and not even close to where we wanted to be, and you feed off that first shift. Incredible first shift.”
Before the second period reached its 90-second mark, Tampa Bay had reduced its deficit to a single goal—Brayden Point had a tap-in goal near the net 1:20 into the frame to make it 3-2.
Nikita Kucherov took the puck at the top of the zone and left it for defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous, whose shot pass to Point was laid perfectly at the right post for the 3-2 marker.
The Lightning tied the game with 3:24 remaining in the second period on a Jack Finley breakaway. Finley was recalled from AHL Syracuse earlier on Saturday and finished a 2-on-0 with Dominic James by depositing his own rebound after Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped Finley’s initial breakaway chance.
“It just kind of came right on my stick. Honestly I was trying to shoot it five-hole and I just missed my shot, and I was just kind of gliding through the crease and it came back and I got it up,” Finley said. “It wasn't pretty, but it was a big goal for us.”
The Hurricanes regained the lead 2:47 into the third period after a Lightning turnover on an Andrei Svechnikov backhand goal, but it was their last lead of the night.
Ryan McDonagh earned himself a breakaway, one he buried with the trademark Kucherov deke. He waved his stick over the puck before letting it slide through Kochetkov’s legpads for the tying goal 26 seconds after Svechnikov’s goal.
“I don’t know what that was,” McDonagh joked of his move postgame. “Some call it luck. I call it, well, luck, I guess.”
Tampa Bay finally earned its first lead of the night off the stick of Jake Guentzel 6:38 into the third period. He buried a rebound chance through Kochetkov’s five-hole following a point shot by defenseman JJ Moser, and it was Guentzel who added the insurance empty-net goal in the final minute of the game for the 6-4 final score.
Guentzel’s two goals co-led the Lightning in scoring on a night McDonagh joined Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Dominic James as Bolts with two points. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy earned the win with 18 saves.
Despite the slow start, Tampa Bay liked the way they answered the challenge over the final 40 minutes of hockey to get their first win since Dec. 11 and first home win since Nov. 26.
“We saw what we can look like and how we should look every single night,” forward Yanni Gourde said. “And that second and third period there was textbook of what we can achieve when we play that way.”
Tampa Bay will look for a second consecutive win in their final game before the holiday break, set for Tuesday at Benchmark International Arena against the St. Louis Blues.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Jake Guentzel, TBL (2 goals)
- Dominic James, TBL (2 assists)
- Ryan McDonagh, TBL (Goal, assist)
