Lightning carry momentum from road stretch into home win over Sharks

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Jan 20, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning’s success over the past five weeks has been built mostly on the road, and their home game Tuesday against an upstart San Jose team was just their second game at Benchmark International Arena in January.

But the Lightning continued to utilize the winning recipe that’s established them as the best team in the East — getting a lead, building on it and protecting it down the stretch — to extend their points streak to 14 games.

A 4-1 win over the Sharks improved Tampa Bay to 13-0-1 over its last 14 games, outscoring teams 60-30 over that stretch. With 66 points, the Lightning lead the second-place Red Wings by two points in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.

The Lightning scored two goals over an 88-second stretch in the opening moments of the second period to take a two-goal lead and never looked back.

For the seventh straight game, the Lighting (31-13-4) held their opponent to two goals or fewer in regulation. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves on 23 shots, running his record to 10-0-1 in his last 11 games.

The Lightning actually fell behind early on Tyler Toffoli’s goal with 5:23 left in the first period. William Eklund wrapped around the net and lifted a shot toward the front of the goal that hit off Toffoli and into the net.

But just 33 seconds later, Brandon Hagel scored his 24th goal of the season, tying Nikita Kucherov for the team lead.

Kucherov forced a turnover in the Sharks end and tapped a pass out to Anthony Cirelli coming through the right circle. Cirelli backtracked and surveyed the area in front, and sent a pass through the traffic to Hagel for a tip-in inside the far post.

The Lightning took their first lead 1:49 into the second period. Kucherov sent a cross-slot pass to Hagel by the left post, but Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov closed off the net to him, so Hagel wrapped around the net and tried to tuck it in on the other side, and Cirelli was credited with the tip in.

Then, Jake Guentzel and Dominic James connected for the third time in the past two games. Gage Goncalves won a forecheck battle against the boards and the puck went to James in the left corner. James looked up and made a quick pass to Guentzel, who was wide open in front of the net for his 22nd goal.

Hagel scored into an empty net late in the third to make it 4-1.

The Lightning ended the game without Cirelli, who was stung in the left leg by a puck shot by Hagel with 9:08 left in the second period. Cirelli finished the second period but played just one shift in the third before exiting.