‹FRI OCT 23›
2 games
Early look The full preview opens on Tuesday 20 October, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Tampa Bay Lightning at Colorado Avalanche: game preview

Puck drop23 Oct · 9:00 PM ET
VenueBall Arena
All-time meetings54 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Fifteen points apart last season

Tampa Bay finished last season 5th in the league on 106 points. Colorado finished 1st on 121.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 55

Across 54 completed games, Tampa Bay lead the head-to-head 27-19-8.

All-time record27-19-8Tampa Bay's record in the series
Meetings played54This is number 55
2025-26 series—
Last 54-1Tampa Bay
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
6 Jan 2026COL 2 – TBL 4——TBL
4 Nov 2025TBL 2 – COL 3——COL
25 Nov 2024COL 2 – TBL 8——TBL
30 Oct 2024TBL 5 – COL 2——TBL
15 Feb 2024COL 3 – TBL 6——TBL
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateTampa BayColorado
4 Nov 20256-5-2 · 14 pts20th8-1-5 · 21 pts1st
6 Jan 202626-13-3 · 55 pts4th31-4-7 · 69 pts1st

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 4 Nov 2025, Tampa Bay were 20th in the league and Colorado 1st. By 6 Jan 2026 it was 4th and 1st.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Colorado out-attempted Tampa Bay 127 to 127

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Tampa Bay Lightning

127 att · 52 on goal · 6 G · 11.5%
Crease8 att · 1 G
Slot50 att · 3 G
Wing40 att · 1 G
Point23 att · 1 G
Neutral zone6 att · 0 G

Colorado Avalanche

127 att · 66 on goal · 5 G · 7.6%
Crease14 att · 2 G
Slot51 att · 2 G
Wing37 att · 1 G
Point21 att · 0 G
Neutral zone4 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Colorado have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

Tampa BayColorado
4.04xG for per game3.16
2.64xG against per game2.55
60.5%xG share55.4%
−4.1FinishingGoals minus expected goals+7.7
+0.9GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+0.1

This season: 3 games for Tampa Bay, 2 for Colorado. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Tampa Bay

Small sample
Power play · 2026-270.0%
Power play · 2025-2620.7% · 17th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2785.7%
Penalty kill · 2025-2682.6% · 3rd
Faceoffs · 2026-2748.2% · 81/168
Drawn · 2026-2713 (4.33/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-277 (2.33/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Colorado

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2744.4%
Power play · 2025-2617.1% · 27th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-27100.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2684.6% · 1st
Faceoffs · 2026-2746.8% · 58/124
Drawn · 2026-279 (4.50/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-276 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
86Nikita Kucherov31341.33
59Jake Guentzel31231.00
38Brandon Hagel31231.00
88Martin Necas22242.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
74John Carlson30220.67
27Ryan McDonagh30000.00
42Josh Manson21231.50
8Cale Makar21231.50
7Devon Toews20221.00
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 20 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 20 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Tampa Bay crease

TBL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 20 Oct

Andrei Vasilevskiy.8983 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx +1.0

No appearances against Colorado in the last meetings.

Colorado crease

COL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 20 Oct

Mackenzie Blackwood.9122 GP · 2-0-0 · GSAx +0.1

No appearances against Tampa Bay in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.3 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

6 Jan 20266 · COL 2–4 TBL
4 Nov 20255 · TBL 2–3 COL
25 Nov 202410 · COL 2–8 TBL
30 Oct 20247 · TBL 5–2 COL
15 Feb 20249 · COL 3–6 TBL

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Tampa Bay2.672.333.542.82
Colorado7.002.503.682.48

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.3Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings7.4Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

7 on the injury lists

Tampa Bay · injuries

Dominic JamesHandIRReturn8 Oct
Emil LillebergUndisclosedOutReturn13 Oct
Yanni GourdeHipIRReturn2 Dec

Colorado · injuries

Georgii MerkulovUndisclosedIRReturn16 Oct
Logan O'ConnorLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct
Trent MinerUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct
Zachary L'HeureuxLower BodyIRReturn7 Oct
6 Oct · TBL

Placed C Jansen Harkins on waivers.

27 Sep · TBL

Placed D Michael Callahan on waivers.

27 Sep · TBL

Placed D Michael Callahan, G Mads Sogaard Nielsenon, LD Maxim Groshev, LW Jakob Pelletier and C Nicholas Abruzzese on waivers.

27 Sep · COL

Placed LD Keaton Middleton, LD Wyatt Aamodt, RW/LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and LW Tristen Nielsen on waivers.

27 Sep · COL

Placed D Keaton Middleton, D Wyatt Aamodt, LW Fabian Lysell, C Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Adam Beckman and G Mads Sogaard Nielsen on waivers.

25 Sep · COL

Reassigned Ds Domenick Fensore, Saige Weinstein and Christian Wolanin to Colorado (AHL).

Injury report
#52Oleg KulebiakinRound 2 · HalifaxRW
#90Tomas KralovicRound 3 · BratislavaD
#134Morgan AnderbergRound 5 · VaxjoC
#154Cooper SollerRound 5 · Sioux FallsC
Full draft
#43Egor ShilovRound 2 · VictoriavilleC
#74Beckett HamiltonRound 3 · Red DeerC
#126Tobias TvrznikRound 4 · WenatcheeG
#128Axel ElofssonRound 4 · Orebro Jr.D
Full draft

Updated after every final