NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning at Colorado Avalanche

· National Hockey League
Tampa Bay Lightning
6-5-2
Final
2 - 3
Colorado Avalanche
8-1-5

Olofsson, Wedgewood lead Avalanche past Lightning 3-2 in rematch of 2022 final

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche: Game Highlights

Playing against his former team, Ross Colton also scored to help the Avalanche — who beat Tampa Bay in 2022 to win the title — push their points total to an NHL-best 21. The Lightning had won five in a row.

Olofsson’s two-goal outing came seven days after his first career hat trick in a victory over New Jersey. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist, giving him a team-high 20 points and extending his points streak to seven games.

Nikita Kucherov scored his fifth goal of the season for Tampa Bay, giving the 32-year-old right wing seven points in his past three games against the Avalanche. The goal gave him 1,005 career points, breaking a tie with Brian Propp for 100th place in NHL history.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots.

With the game tied at 1 in the second period, Colorado scored twice in 1:13 seconds, the first of which came from Olofsson on the power play against the NHL’s third-best penalty kill.

A backhand goal from Brayden Point early in the third period cut the Avalanche’s advantage in half.

Up next Avalanche: At Edmonton on Saturday night.

Lightning: At Vegas on Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

COL leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 1:37 Nikita Kucherov Goal (5) Wrap-around, assists: none
Goal 1st Period 13:51 Victor Olofsson Goal (4) Wrist Shot, assists: Nathan MacKinnon (10), Martin Necas (9)
Goal 2nd Period 4:08 Victor Olofsson Goal (5) Wrist Shot, assists: Jack Drury (4), Gabriel Landeskog (4)
Goal 2nd Period 5:21 Ross Colton Goal (2) Backhand, assists: Sam Malinski (5), Brock Nelson (2)
Goal 3rd Period 3:32 Brayden Point Goal (3) Backhand, assists: Charle-Edouard D'Astous (2), Victor Hedman (10)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/col.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCOL
14 Blocked Shots 15
23 Hits 17
4 Takeaways 7
24 Shots 33
0 Power Play Goals 1
3 Power Play Opportunities 4
0.0 Power Play Percentage 25.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
30 Faceoffs Won 31
49.2 Faceoff Win Percent 50.8
14 Giveaways 11
5 Total Penalties 4
13 Penalty Minutes 11
Colorado Avalanche Colorado Avalanche Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Logan O'Connor, RW Injured Reserve Dec 12
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Erik Cernak, D Injured Reserve Dec 27
Ryan McDonagh, D Out Dec 27
Brandon Hagel, LW Injured Reserve Dec 20
Emil Lilleberg, D Injured Reserve Dec 15
Victor Hedman, D Injured Reserve Dec 12

Game Information

Ball Arena

Location: Denver, CO
Attendance: 18,071 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Detroit 22 13 47 3
Montreal 20 12 45 5
Tampa Bay 20 13 43 3
Florida 20 14 42 2
Ottawa 18 13 41 5
Boston 20 17 41 1
Buffalo 18 14 40 4
Toronto 16 15 37 5

2025-26 Central Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Colorado 27 2 61 7
Dallas 25 7 56 6
Minnesota 22 10 50 6
Utah 18 18 39 3
Nashville 16 16 36 4
St. Louis 14 16 36 8
Winnipeg 15 17 33 3
Chicago 13 17 32 6
Full Standings