The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up a decisive win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. Along the way, they made some history.
According to OptaSTATS, they're the first team since Feb. 6, 1938, to have four different players record an unassisted goal at even strength.
The @TBLightning are the first NHL team to have 4 different players score an unassisted goal at even strength in the same game since the Bruins did so on February 6, 1938.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 21, 2026
Those players, in order, are John Carlson, Anthony Cirelli, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov. The last one on the list picked up his unassisted goal to tie Steven Stamkos for the all-time points record.
Think about how much hockey has changed since the last time this happened. This is before what is considered the Original Six era. Opponents on the Bruins' schedule during the 1937-38 season included the Montreal Maroons and the New York Americans. One of those teams folded after that season.
Icing became a rule that very season. It was the last season that the Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-5 championship, and the regular season lasted 48 games. This doesn't even include what could come later such as helmets, painting the ice, red line at center ice, etc. It was a completely different world.
With the Lightning feat on Tuesday, this was the first time that it happened in a game where hockey resembles the game that we know. You can go entire games without any unassisted goals, let alone multiple, or one that was on the power play or on the penalty kill. That's just normal.
For those looking to take something away from this feat, it shows this is a pretty good offense. It shows John Carlson has made for a nice additon to the team, and Anthony Cirelli continues to grow as a goal-scorer.
It's also just a fun stat. Even if it's nothing more than that, at least they can say they did somthing that hasn't happened in a long time.
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