For a moment in the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning had shook off the shackles of their slow start and appeared to be on their way to a comfortable win against the Anaheim Ducks. Back-to-back milestone goals gave them a 3-1 lead and it seemed like they were headed to victory against a plucky Anaheim squad. The Ducks rocked the faith of the Lightning fans as they scored twice within a minute in the third period to tie things up. However, Anthony Cirelli, aka Tony Two Goals, lived up to his nickname as he fired home a power play goal to lead the Lightning to a 4-3 victory.
Pre-Game
- A couple of Lightning are chasing milestones tonight as Victor Hedman is sitting at 799 points while Nikita Kucherov is at 999. Brandon Hagel is a little further behind on the all-time points list, but he’s sitting at 298.
- We have another NHL debut! Charle-Edouard D’Astous gets his rookie lap and will slot in on the third pairing with Emil Lilleberg.
- The bottom lines are jumbled as well as Zemgus Girgensons makes his season debut on the fourth line with Yanni Gourde and Pontus Holmberg. Curtis Douglas is on the second line. Sure, why not!
- Jonas Johansson is between the pipes.
#GoBolts lines in warmups vs. ANA: Guentzel-Point-Kucherov Hagel-Cirelli-Douglas Bjorkstrand-James-Goncalves Girgensons-Gourde-Holmberg Hedman-Moser McDonagh-Cernak Lilleberg-D’Astous Johansson starts
— Benjamin Pierce (@boltsben.bsky.social) October 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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First Period
19:32 – Zemgus Girgensons gets things going with his first shot of the season. It looks like Charle-Edouard D’Astous is playing the left side with Emil Lilleberg on the right. Should be an interesting pairing.
18:33 – Jake Guentzel stares at the goalie as Lukas Dostal snatches his shot out of the air. Nice passing play by the top line. Would love to see the Lightning to get their forecheck going against a young Ducks team that might make some mistakes under pressure.
16:47 The first penalty of the game goes to Erik Cernak for tripping. Anaheim had their first decent possession in the zone and Cernak got caught out high. Another one of the stick penalties that annoys Coach Cooper.
15:47 – A poor clear leads to a big shot from Troy Terry, but JoJo makes the save. The rebound comes to Brandon Hagel and he’s yanked to the ice. That’s a penalty, and it’s 4-on-4 action for about a minute.
13:16 – Lightning get a shot on the power play, and it’s a good one from the right circle by Nikita Kucherov. Brayden Point gets a rebound, but the shot is blocked, and Anaheim dodges a bullet. A little different entry by the Bolts as they rim it around the back of the net, and then reverse it. The first attempt gets picked off and cleared, but the second one works and they’re able to get set up. We go to the first TV timeout tied at zero.
12:16 – Lightning’s forecheck creates a turnover, but the puck rolls on Kucherov’s stick as he tries to lift it after a backhand/forehand move on Dostal.
10:50 – GOOOOAALLLL!!! Jake Guentzel follows up his own shot/pass. It looks like he was looking for Anthony Cirelli on the back post, but it hit a defender in front. The puck comes right to him and he has an empty net to flip it into. 1-0 Lightning.
Jake Guentzel (3) [Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli]
10:10 – JoJo makes a save short-handed. Pontus Holmberg goes to the box for a trip at the Lightning blueline. Lightning need to watch themselves with these careless penalties.
8:37 – For the second time in the first period, the Ducks bail out the Lightning penalty kill as Mason McTavish is whistled for interference.
7:16 – The Lightning have some zone time on their second power play and it leads to a couple of shots from Victor Hedman. Things open up for them when the Big Swede is in a shoot-first mentality.
6:31 – Kuckerov tries to jam it down deep from the blueline, but it’s blocked right as McTavish leaves the penalty box. JoJo coolly gloves the breakaway attempt to keep it 1-0.
4:20 – Nice shift by the fourth line as they keep the puck in the zone. Girgensons with a well-timed hit to separate the puck. Anaheim rang the post a little earlier in the run of play.
4:02 – Lilleberg goes after Ross Johnston after the Duck forward leg-whipped Kucherov. Both will go off for minors and fighting majors.
2:31 – Oh to be young. Dominic James somehow stays onside as Oliver Bjorkstrand changes direction at the blueline. That looked really painful from the couch.
54.6 – A lusty chorus of boos snake around the arena after Yanni Gourde takes a stick to the face away from the puck that goes uncalled.
Second Period
17:42 – The TV crew points out that Mikael Granlund is not on the bench for the Ducks, so they’ll be a little short-handed. The James line with a couple of good chances early on. Brayden Point gets behind the defense, but can’t beat Dostal on the backhand. Solid start to the period.
15:18 – Jacob Trouba winds it up and blasts it past Johansson. After a clean face-off win by McTavish, Trouba walks in and puts the shot over the glove and under the bar. It’s all tied up. 1-1
Jacob Trouba (2) [Troy Terry, Mason McTavish]
12:26 – James jumps on a loose puck in the neutral zone and turns it up the ice. He snaps it on net, but Dostal makes the glove save. James is fitting in well so far and could force a tough choice by the Bolts when Nick Paul is ready to come back.
10:03 – Another good chance for the rookie as Hagel saurcers it to him in the slot and he slaps it on net, but the Anaheim goaltender is there to make the stop. Anaheim is pushing a little here, but Johansson has been sharp. He made a really nice blocker save on Cutter Gauthier on a hard wrist shot that was dipping.
9:30 – Shots are 24-15 in favor of Anaheim. Natural Stat Trick has shot attempts at 38-26 in favor of the Ducks.
7:41 – 1000! Nikita Kucherov sets up Jake Guentzel for the second goal of the game. A cross-ice pass hits Jake in the skates and goes in behind Dostal. The team pours onto the ice to celebrate with their mercurial superstar. Kucherov acknowledges the support as the cheers echo around the arena. Okay, that would have been hilarious if Anaheim challenged the goal. They do not and it’s 2-1 Lightning.
Jake Guentzel (4) [Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel]
5:41 – 800! A scramble in front of the net is put home in front by Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman picks up an assist. He becomes just the 20th defenseman in NHL history to hit that mark.. No on-ice celebration for that milestone, but it is a 3-1 lead for the Bolts. Hagel also picks up his 300th point with the primary assist. Do they cut the puck in half to celebrate?
Anthony Cirelli (4) [Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman]
1:08 – The Lightning are back on the power play as Sam Colangelo takes a run at Gage Goncalves. The Portuguese Pistol had knocked Jackson LaCombe down earlier and Colangel took exception to that. So, of course it’s a 2-on-1 for Anaheim. Hedman takes the pass option away and JoJo handles the shot from Terry.
0:00 – Anaheim holds onto the puck as the horn sounds. Good job by the Lightning to push back after the Ducks built a little momentum following their goal. Johansson made a couple of big saves and then the offense picked things up.
Third Period
20:00 – Some notes to start the period. Curtis Douglas has 2:00 of ice time. There hasn’t been any kind of notice that he’s hurt, perhaps Coach Cooper has shortened his bench a bit. The Gourde line is getting crushed in possession. Anaheim is leading in shot attempts (11-2), scoring chances (7-1), and high-danger chances (3-0) when that trio is on the ice. Dominic James with three shots in 11:22 of ice time along with three individual scoring chances.
18:17 – The Kucherov experience in a nutshell. Makes a couple of nice plays to create space. Turns the puck over. Steals the puck back to set up a scoring chance for Point. Dostal makes the save.
16:44 – The Gourde lines draws a penalty, but they almost had a goal as Holmberg directed a shot from Girgensons that plonks off of the crossbar. Power play is 0-for-3 on the night.
15:13 – Gauthier to the box for hooking and it’s a 5-on-3 for 30 seconds. D’Astous getting time on the second unit definitely is a solid distributor of the puck.
12:49 – Turning point in the game? Outside of a four-shot flurry with the two-skater advantage, the Lightning don’t accomplish much on the power play. Anaheim’s fourth line counters and Ryan Poehling jams home the feed to make it 3-2 Lightning.
Ryan Poehling (1) [ Ross Johnston, Drew Helleson]
11:50 – Well. That is unfortunate. The Ducks tie it up. Troy Terry gets the loose puck off of Gautier’s rebound and wrists it past Johansson. Two Lightning players get caught behind the net as they glide past the play.It’s all tied at three.
Troy Terry (3) [Cutter Gautier, Leo Carlsson]
9:05 – Girgensons! So close. The Hammer gets behind the defense, but his shot is forced wide as he crashes the net. He’s stopped on a one-timer a few seconds later.
6:51 – The Bolts push for the go-ahead goal with a nice long sustained shift, but Johansson has to make a big save after a turnover at the blueline allows Anaheim to ease the pressure a little. Lightning aren’t playing for overtime at this point as they amp up their puck retrieval (and it looks like Dominic James has joined the second line).
4:18 – The Lightning are gifted another power play opportunity as Lilleberg spins behind the net and Johnston takes him out with a trip.
3:15 – Dave Randolf with the reverse jinx! Just as the Lightning broadcaster mentions the Lightning power play is 2-for-22 since opening night, Tony Two Goals one-times a puck home from the slot. It’s 4-3 Lightning.
Anthony Cirelli [5] (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) Power Play
0:00 – Victory! Johansson swats aside one last long-distance attempt and the Bolts have their first win at home. They had an excellent push after the Cirelli goal as they never allowed Anaheim out of their zone. That’s a huge two points. Sure, the win should have been a little less stressful, but at this point, two points are two points.
