Lightning outlast the Bruins 6–5 in an unforgettable Stadium Series match that will be talked about forever

You could not have asked for a more exciting night in Tampa Bay. On Sunday the Tampa Bay Lightning welcomed the Boston Bruins to Tampa Bay for Tampa’s first ever outdoor hockey game in one of the biggest undertakings the NHL has ever attempted and pulled off. But a massive cold front actually assisted the NHL and instead of having to worry about ice melting, officials found themselves having to do the opposite – they had to warm the ice because of how cold it was in Tampa on Sunday.

After getting off to a quick start, Tampa found themselves down 3-1 to Boston after the first period and down 5-1 mid-way through the second. But after a strong end to the second period it was 5-4 heading into the third. The Lightning would tie it up in the third to send the game to overtime, and then eventually on to a shootout.

On a night when Nikita Kucherov had four points (one goal, three assists), Brandon Hagel had three points (one goal, two assists), and Jake Guentzel had two points (two assists), Tampa Bay went on to defeat the Bruins 5-4 in the Gasparilla weekend Stadium Series matchup to end Gasparilla in excitement and sent the Bruins walking the plank with a loss.

There was a goalie fight, penalties, a combined ten goals in regulation, break aways, and more. There could not have been any more actual provided to fans in Tampa who showed up in the cold. They were awarded with not just extra hockey, but saw their Lightning walk out of Raymond James Stadium victors in the battle of the bay!

The puck dropped and before anyone could blink or take their seat (for those who even sat down), Brandon Hagel put Tampa Bay on the scoreboard in lightning fast fashion. Just :11 seconds in Hagel scored on a hard snap shot that got passed Jeremy Swayman to make it a 1-0 Lightning lead. It was Hagel’s 26th goal of 2025-‘26. He was assisted by the captain Nikita Kucherov (his 56th assist of the season) and Darren Raddysh (his 33rd assist).

But 11 minutes later the Bruins struck back and took the lead and then some. Alex Steeves tied it up with his ninth goal of the season on a snap shot assisted by Michael Eyssimont.

Then four minutes later Morgan Geekie made his presence known to do some damage to his little brother’s team and make it a 2-1 lead that gave the Bruins the lead. It was a tip-in shot that was assisted by Charlie McAvoy and Jonathan Aspirot.

On a Boston power play Viktor Arvidsson scored his 14th goal of the year on a tip-in shot. He was assisted by McAvoy (34th assist) and M. Geekie (21 assists).

That’s where the score stood after one period of play at Raymond James Stadium. It was all Boston in the first period. They out-shot Tampa 20-8 in the period.

The second period started the opposite way the first did as the Bruins continued to beat up on Tampa. Matthew Poitras scored his first goal of the season on a strong backhand shot 2:22 into the period. He was assisted by Mark Kastelic (8th assist) and suddenly the Bruins were up 4-1.

Geekie put another hurting on Gasparilla weekend by extending Boston’s lead to 5-1. He was assisted by David Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov. With 8:18 left in the period, Boston was putting a beat down on Tampa.

But Boston finally got a penalty to give an advantage to Tampa Bay and they took advantage. Oliver Bjorkstrand  scored his eighth goal of the year on a powerplay wrist shot that was assisted by Hagel (his 25thassist of the year and second point of the night) and Jake Guentzel and it was a 5-2 match as the Lightning began to try to crawl their way back into the match.

As the Bruins continued to punish themselves with penalties, Tampa Bay took advantage by scoring two more goals back-to-back in very fast fashion.

Darren Raddysh (16th goal) scored on a snap shot during a power play with assists by Kucherov and Hagel that made it 5-3 with just over four minutes to play in the second period and then Nick Paul followed :23 seconds later with his sixth goal of the year on a tip-in shot assisted by Guentzel (33) and Kucherov (58).

On a remarkable evening in Tampa, the Stadium Series did not disappoint through two periods. After being out-shot 20-8 in the first period, Tampa Bay out-shot Boston 21-9 in the second period as both teams were tied at 29 shots a piece through two periods of play in Tampa Bay. 

Down by one the Lightning needed a goal to tie and two to win it in the third period. After 10 minutes the period was scoreless as the Bruins maintained their 5-4 lead halfway through the final period of regulation.

But with 12 minutes into the period Kucherov evened it up on a huge points night for him. A slap shot assisted by Ryan McDonagh (5) and Erik Cernak (6) to make it a 5-5 game with eight to play in regulation. It was all evened up and we had a hockey game as time started winding down.

This is the fourth time in franchise history that the Lightning have come back from down by four to tie a game.

After three periods, the match was tied after regulation and the Bruins and Tampa Bay headed to overtime after what was an exciting three periods of play. For Bruins and Lightning fans at Raymond James Stadium, they were awarded extra hockey on Gasparilla weekend. Tampa out-shot Boston 7-0 in the third period and out-scored them 1-0 which is how the Lightning and bruins sent the game to overtime.

Not much happened in overtime outside of a powerplay for Tampa Bay, but they were not able to produce. Tampa out-shot Boston 9-0 in overtime, but were unable to score and the 2026 Tampa Stadium series would be decided on a winner takes all shootout!

After misses by the first four shooters (Gage Goncalves, Casey Mittelstadt, Kucherov, and Fraser Minten), Jake Guentzel struck for Tampa on a snap shot to break the tie and give Tampa the 1-0 shootout lead.

And then Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped the red-hot Pastrnak to secure the victory as the Lightning went on to defeat Boston by a final score of 6-5. This was the largest comeback for a win in Lightning franchise history.

You could not have asked for a more exciting night in Tampa. This matchup had shots, penalties, a goalie fight, overtime, a shootout, Tim McGraw, Hunter Hayes, and some of the best hockey in the NHL!

And in the end, it was the Lightning who went on to defeat Boston 6-5 in their largest comeback win in franchise history!

Next up for Tampa (35-14-4) they will have a day off on Monday before welcoming the Buffalo Sabres (31-18-5) to Tampa back at Benchmark International Arena. 

Go Bolts!