NHL

Vegas Golden Knights at Tampa Bay Lightning

· National Hockey League

Kucherov scores in OT to give Lightning 2-1 win over Golden Knights

Nikita Kucherov scores winning goal for Lightning in OT

Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning, winners of two straight after starting the season 1-4-2. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 18 saves to get his first win of the season in his sixth start.

William Karlsson scored for Vegas, which dropped both games on a Florida swing. Rookie goalie Carl Lindbom stopped 26 shots in his first NHL start.

Kucherov finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Hagel on the opening shift of overtime after Hagel intercepted the puck in the defensive zone to set up the odd-man chance.

Hagel opened the scoring 4:53 into the game, roofing a rebound from Victor Hedman’s shot up and over Lindbom.

Vegas tied it with 1:35 left in the first period as Karlsson took a cross-ice pass from Reilly Smith and zipped a shot under the glove and over Vasilevskiy's pad.

Vegas had only two shots on goal in the second period and only had eight through two periods, which is the lowest total through 40 minutes in franchise history. But the game remained 1-1 through two periods primarily because of Lindbom, who turned aside all 11 shots in the second.

Tampa Bay twice appeared to have a go-ahead goal, but the first was waived off because it hit referee Frederick L’Ecuyer and ricocheted into the net. Kucherov scored with 6:40 left in the third, but Vegas challenged for offside on the entry play and the goal was taken off the board.

The Golden Knights had two power-play chances in the third period.

Up Next Golden Knights: At Carolina on Tuesday.

Lightning: At Nashville on Tuesday.

Regular Season Series

TB leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 4:53 Brandon Hagel Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Victor Hedman (8), Jake Guentzel (6)
Goal 1st Period 18:25 William Karlsson Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: Reilly Smith (1), Shea Theodore (3)
Goal 4th Period 0:32 Nikita Kucherov Goal (3) Snap Shot, assists: Brandon Hagel (4)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/vgk.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originVGK https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB
24 Blocked Shots 14
27 Hits 19
3 Takeaways 2
19 Shots 28
0 Power Play Goals 0
3 Power Play Opportunities 5
0.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
28 Faceoffs Won 28
50.0 Faceoff Win Percent 50.0
15 Giveaways 17
5 Total Penalties 4
15 Penalty Minutes 11
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Nick Paul, LW Injured Reserve Oct 31
Niko Huuhtanen, RW Injured Reserve Oct 6
Vegas Golden Knights Vegas Golden Knights Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE

Game Information

Benchmark International Arena

Location: Tampa, FL
Attendance: 19,092 | Capacity:

2025-26 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Vegas 6 1 15 3
Los Angeles 5 3 14 4
Seattle 5 2 13 3
Edmonton 5 4 13 3
Vancouver 6 6 12 0
Anaheim 5 3 11 1
San Jose 3 6 8 2
Calgary 2 8 6 2

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Detroit 8 3 16 0
Montreal 8 3 16 0
Ottawa 6 5 13 1
Tampa Bay 5 4 12 2
Boston 6 7 12 0
Florida 5 5 11 1
Buffalo 4 4 11 3
Toronto 5 5 11 1
Full Standings