Vasilevskiy, Lightning stage improbable comeback against Bruins in Stadium Series

TAMPA -- In the end, with the capacity crowd of 64,617 at Raymond James Stadium holding its collective breath on an uncommonly chilly Florida night, it came down to a case of “next goal wins.”

Fortunately, for Jake Guentzel and his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates, he was the one who scored it Sunday.

And when it was all over, after the veteran’s shootout winner had given the Lightning the largest comeback victory in NHL outdoor game history, he could only shake his head in awe at what he and his teammates had just accomplished.

“That was one you’ll definitely remember for the rest of your life,” Guentzel said after Tampa Bay’s 6-5 shootout win against the Boston Bruins in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series.

Never before had the Lightning won a game in which they’d been four goals behind. And for the first 28:18 against the Bruins, from the moment Morgan Geekie had put Boston up 5-1, it certainly seemed as if they weren’t going to do it this time either.

“For the first half of the game, they were all over us,” Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy said. “So to win a game like this, it’s unreal.

“So a big, big thanks to the guys for that.”

At the same time, Vasilevskiy’s teammates were thanking him for changing the momentum in the game.

And for once, it wasn’t for a save he made.

Down by four goals, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a power-play goal at 10:28 of the second to bring the Lightning to within 5-2 of the Bruins.

Then, 33 seconds later, chaos broke out.

At 11:01 of the second period, Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman took issue with Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel hacking at him and swatted the Lightning forward. Vasilevskiy, witnessing what was going on at the other end of the ice, immediately charged out of his net. Upon seeing his counterpart do that, so, too, did Swayman.

Within seconds, a goalie fight had broken out.

“Obviously, that’s what 20 of us do for each other,” Hagel said, noting how the Lightning stand up for each other, including their goalie. “I got a glove to the head. Obviously, (Vasilevskiy) didn’t like that. He probably didn’t like all the goals going in because of us, either.

“So that was the turning point of the game.”

Guentzel couldn’t agree more.

“That’s was the game-changing moment for our team,” he said. “And that’s what we needed.”

Cue the comeback.

Darren Raddysh scored at 15:50, followed by a goal from Nick Paul at 16:13. Suddenly, the Lightning had cut the Bruins lead to 5-4, thanks to three power-play goals in the span of 5:45.

Nikita Kucherov then tied the game at 11:50 of the third period, setting up Guentzel’s overtime heroics.

“We just had to get back to the basics,” Kucherov, who had four points (one goal, three assists), said. “Obviously, the first period wasn’t good and the start of the second wasn’t good."

Still, he said, the Lightning didn’t lose faith that they could come back.

“I think everyone just had to believe in their skill set and take advantage of the opportunities they have. Just stay calm.

“We did that. And at the end of the day, we won.”

Much to the appreciation of the Lightning supporters, who paid tribute to Vasilevskiy by chanting, “'Vasy,' 'Vasy'” as he left the ice.

“I didn’t have much to do for the second half of the game,” he said. “So the best I could have done, I stopped a few shootouts.”

On this, the most historic of comebacks for the Lightning, it was more than enough.