Jordan Kyrou scored the lone shootout goal in the second round, and Hofer made all three saves to seal the win.
Jake Neighbours and Nick Bjugstad scored for the Blues (19-21-8), who have won two straight after losing three in a row.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored, while Darren Raddysh had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning (29-13-4), who had previously won 11 in a row and tied the franchise record originally set in 2020 (Jan. 29-Feb. 17). The loss marked Tampa Bay's first of 2026, with the club last losing 2-1 to the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 18, 2025.
Neighbours made it 1-0 at 17:03 when he collected Kyrou’s deflected shot at the bottom of the right circle and beat Vasilevskiy over the left pad with a wrist shot.
Just 30 seconds later, Bjugstad pushed it 2-0 at 17:33. Pavel Buchnevich found Bjugstad in the high slot for a wrist shot after the Blues forechecked a puck below the goal line along the end boards.
Hagel's no-look pass set Kucherov up for the one-timer from the right circle at 9:59, cutting the Blues lead to 2-1 and taking just eight seconds of a two-man advantage.
Bjorkstrand tied it 2-2 at 11:01 with a power-play goal when he took Kucherov’s pass in the bumper position and whipped a wrist shot over Hofer’s left shoulder.
