Lightning beat Blackhawks, run season-opening home win streak to 8

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Nov 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning put their record-setting home win streak on the line Thursday night at Benchmark International Arena against a Blackhawks team that had been winless in its previous seven road games.

With a 4-1 victory, they won their eighth straight home game to open the season.

The Lightning (10-3-2) have recorded points in eight of their last nine games, going 6-1-2 over that stretch.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, making his 600th start, stopped 25 of 26 shots to improve his career record against the Blackhawks to 15-1-0. He entered the night with a .928 career save percentage against Chicago, the sixth best in NHL history (minimum 10 games).

Defenseman Victor Hedman, who’s been used sparingly on the power play, scored the game’s first goal on the man advantage, giving Tampa Bay the lead 4:12 into the game.

Hedman, who had a total of 2:40 of power-play ice time going into the night, brought the puck up the ice and executed a textbook give-and-go, passing to Anthony Cirelli along the left flank, then driving to the front of the net.

Cirelli tapped a pass back to Hedman, who wristed a shot past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom, marking the seventh game in the Lightning’s last eight in which they’ve scored a power-play goal.

After opening the season 2 for 27 (7.4%) in the first seven games, they’re 7 for 25 (28%) in their last eight games.

Center Zemgus Girgensons drew back into the lineup after missing three games due to a lower-body injury. His return reunited a matchup line with Ilya Mikheyev and Pontus Holmberg that has been efficient with its possession game.

The line scored two goals, both by Mikheyev, in its first game back together.

Mikheyev put the Lightning up 2-0 with 1:38 left in the first period. Holmberg took the puck into the neutral zone and made a cross-ice pass that was picked up by defenseman Erik Cernak as he crossed the blue line on the left side.

Cernak made a quick drop pass to Mikheyev, then went to the net to provide a screen. Mikheyev skated in and beat Soderblom through the five-hole with a wrist shot.

At 1:59 of the second period, forward Jeff Viel dropped gloves with Blackhawks rookie Dillon Boucher. Refusing to go down while struggling with his balance, Viel opened up Boucher with a right-handed punch that bloodied his opponent under the right eye. By the end of the fight, blood was flowing down Boucher’s face.

Soderblom held the game close until 2:38 into the third, when Ryan McDonagh made it 3-0. The defenseman jumped up into the play and slapped a shot from the top of the left circle into the top far corner of the net.

Less than three minutes later, Mikheyev scored again, charging to the front of the net off the rush and taking a pass from Cernak to the far side for a redirection.