Golden Knights struck hard by Lightning, win streak ends at 3

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 21, 2026

Published in Hockey

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It was “Emo Night” at T-Mobile Arena. The occasional playings of Blink-182 and Good Charlotte only further aided Vegas Golden Knights’ sadness on Tuesday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three times in the second period, and the Knights lost soundly for the first time this season by the hand of a 6-2 defeat.

Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli scored twice in the second, and defenseman Victor Hedman added the third goal to turn a 2-2 tie into a runaway game for the Lightning.

Captain Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev scored for the Knights (8-3-0), who allowed a season-high in goals.

Carter Hart allowed five of them on 14 shots through two periods. He finished with 14 saves.

Meanwhile, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy turned in a 32-save performance that has been commonplace for the future hall of famer.

Cirelli, one of the best two-way centers in the league, broke the tie with a net-front goal at 6:44, then intercepted a miscue from center Jack Eichel and beat Hart at 10:09.

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman made it 5-2 with a shot from the half wall.

Their old friend

Much has changed in 10 seasons of Knights hockey. One constant has been hilarity tends to ensue when they play the Lightning.

Tuesday was more of the same. Hard hits, near-fights and penalties galore through the first 20 minutes.

Not to mention, four goals were scored.

Tampa Bay jumped out to a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal from winger Brandon Hagel and a defensive mishap that turned into an unassisted goal for defenseman John Carlson.

The Knights responded with two goals off Lightning turnovers, starting with Barbashev’s rebound at 13:16 to tie it 1-1.

Carlson scored 48 seconds later off a failed line change.

Stone scored his eighth goal of the season after getting a piece of Vasilevskiy’s clearing attempt and sniping home the shorthanded goal with 1:30 left in the first.

Power outage

The Knights went 0-for-4 on the power play.

Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov added a breakaway goal in the third period to go along with two assists. He has a point in all 15 games against the Knights in his career.

Tampa Bay’s last three goals were unassisted.

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