Brandon Hagel's hat trick leads Lightning to 4th consecutive win

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Oct 10, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ELMONT, N.Y. — The Lightning were looking Saturday night to carry the momentum they built with three straight home wins on the road against the Islanders.

They went into the final period at UBS Arena fighting for points, deadlocked at 3-all.

These are the early-season games that build confidence and character, and despite blowing a pair of two-goal leads in the second period, the Lightning escaped with two points with a 5-3 win over the Islanders

After playing most of the third period in their own end, Brandon Hagel scored the winning goal with 1:44 left in regulation followed by a empty-netter that gave him a hat trick.

They have won four straight after the season-opening flop at Madison Square Garden, with a rematch Tuesday with the Rangers.

With the Lightning leading 3-1 following Jake Guentzel’s second goal of the game — one that came on the power play 7:54 into the second period — UBS Arena came alive after 19-year-old Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer put a move inside the blue line on Selke Trophy runner-up Anthony Cirelli that took him out of the play. It gave Schaefer a shooting lane to rifle a shot through traffic and past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with 8:19 left in the second to make it a one-goal game.

Then the Lightning PK broke down, leading to the tying goal with seven seconds left in the period. Hagel was stung by a Schaefer shot attempt, Cirelli lost his stick, and Brayden Schenn’s pass to Kyle Palmieri in the paint hit off Erik Cernak’s stick and went in.

Hagel played a role in both first-period goals. His forecheck into the corner forced Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s errant clear attempt, landing the puck on Guentzel’s stick for a Grade-A chance from the right hash 5:45 into the game.

Hagel then outskated two Islanders skaters to a puck that defenseman Victor Hedman cleared with an overhead pass out of the corner. Hagel fought through defenseman Ryan Pulock’s stick on the backcheck and beat Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin with 4:18 left in the first period.