NHL

Colorado Avalanche at Tampa Bay Lightning

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Final
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Brandon Hagel scores winner as Lightning beat Avalanche 4-2

Colorado Avalanche vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: Game Highlights

Jake Guentzel and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli added an empty-netter. Nikita Kucherov recorded his seventh straight multipoint game with a pair of assists.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves for his sixth consecutive win.

Parker Kelly and Brock Nelson scored for Colorado, which has dropped consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season. The Avalanche had just three regulation losses on the season entering Tuesday.

Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots for Colorado.

Hagel scored the winning goal after Kucherov protected the puck near the left circle, found Max Crozier who cut down the slot before finding Hagel for a sweeping one-timer at 8:31 of the third period. Cirelli scored an empty-net goal with 1:25 left.

Guentzel put Tampa Bay up 1-0 coming out of the corner on the power play with space to get out front and find the top far corner with 12 seconds left in the opening period.

Colorado scored twice in six minutes to take the lead. Kelly found a loose puck in the paint at 3:22 before Nelson fired a shot from the left faceoff dot that deflected off the stick of Erik Cernak and knuckled past Vasilevskiy at 9:31.

Girgensons pulled the Lightning even again late in the second, getting inside position on Cale Makar on top of the crease and getting his stick down for Yanni Gourde to find for the redirect at 17:22.

Colorado played without captain Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Devon Toews, who both returned to Denver earlier in the day. Landeskog was injured after running into the net against Florida on Sunday and Toews was injured on Saturday against Carolina. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said both are expected to miss weeks.

Up next Avalanche: Host Ottawa on Thursday.

Lightning: Visit Philadelphia on Saturday.

Regular Season Series

Series tied 1-1

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 19:48 Jake Guentzel Goal (19) Wrist Shot, assists: Nikita Kucherov (40), Darren Raddysh (23)
Goal 2nd Period 3:22 Parker Kelly Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: Zakhar Bardakov (5), Ilya Solovyov (1)
Goal 2nd Period 9:31 Brock Nelson Goal (19) Snap Shot, assists: Cale Makar (36)
Goal 2nd Period 17:22 Zemgus Girgensons Goal (6) Tip-In, assists: Yanni Gourde (9), Pontus Holmberg (7)
Goal 3rd Period 8:31 Brandon Hagel Goal (20) Snap Shot, assists: Max Crozier (9), Nikita Kucherov (41)
Goal 3rd Period 18:35 Anthony Cirelli Goal (12) Snap Shot, assists: Brandon Hagel (18), Darren Raddysh (24)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/col.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCOL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tb.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTB
19 Blocked Shots 16
20 Hits 21
4 Takeaways 5
33 Shots 28
0 Power Play Goals 1
2 Power Play Opportunities 2
0.0 Power Play Percentage 50.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
38 Faceoffs Won 17
69.1 Faceoff Win Percent 30.9
19 Giveaways 12
3 Total Penalties 5
6 Penalty Minutes 18
Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Anthony Cirelli, C Day-To-Day Feb 26
Nick Paul, LW Injured Reserve Feb 25
Colorado Avalanche Colorado Avalanche Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Joel Kiviranta, LW Day-To-Day Feb 26

Game Information

Benchmark International Arena

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

2025-26 Central Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Colorado 38 10 85 9
Minnesota 35 14 80 10
Dallas 35 14 79 9
Utah 30 24 64 4
Nashville 27 24 61 7
Winnipeg 23 26 54 8
Chicago 22 27 53 9
St. Louis 21 28 51 9

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 38 15 80 4
Detroit 34 19 74 6
Montreal 32 17 73 9
Buffalo 33 19 72 6
Boston 33 20 71 5
Ottawa 28 22 64 8
Florida 30 25 63 3
Toronto 27 23 63 9
Full Standings