Early look The full preview opens on Monday 11 January, 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

Vegas Golden Knights at Tampa Bay Lightning: game preview

Puck drop14 Jan · 7:00 PM ET
VenueBenchmark International Arena
All-time meetings16 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Eleven points apart last season

Vegas finished last season 13th in the league on 95 points. Tampa Bay finished 5th on 106.

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

Head-to-head

Meeting number 17

Across 16 completed games, Vegas lead the head-to-head 8-7-1.

All-time record8-7-1Vegas's record in the series
Meetings played16This is number 17
2025-26 series—
Last 54-1Tampa Bay
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
6 Nov 2025TBL 6 – VGK 3——TBL
26 Oct 2025VGK 1 – TBL 2 OT——TBL
23 Mar 2025TBL 2 – VGK 4——VGK
17 Oct 2024VGK 3 – TBL 4——TBL
19 Mar 2024TBL 5 – VGK 3——TBL
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateVegasTampa Bay
26 Oct 20255-1-3 · 13 pts6th3-4-2 · 8 pts26th
6 Nov 20257-3-3 · 17 pts11th7-5-2 · 16 pts16th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 26 Oct 2025, Vegas were 6th in the league and Tampa Bay 26th. By 6 Nov 2025 it was 11th and 16th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Tampa Bay out-attempted Vegas 133 to 101

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

Vegas Golden Knights

101 att · 51 on goal · 4 G · 7.8%
Crease10 att · 0 G
Slot42 att · 2 G
Wing34 att · 1 G
Point9 att · 1 G
Neutral zone6 att · 0 G

Tampa Bay Lightning

133 att · 55 on goal · 8 G · 14.5%
Crease10 att · 0 G
Slot62 att · 7 G
Wing43 att · 1 G
Point18 att · 0 G
Neutral zone0 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Vegas 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.

VegasTampa Bay
3.79xG for per game4.04
2.09xG against per game2.64
64.4%xG share60.5%
+1.8FinishingGoals minus expected goals−4.1
−1.6GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+0.9

This season: 4 games for Vegas, 3 for Tampa Bay. 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

Vegas

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2731.3%
Power play · 2025-2624.6% · 6th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2783.3%
Penalty kill · 2025-2681.4% · 7th
Faceoffs · 2026-2753.0% · 122/230
Drawn · 2026-2716 (4.00/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

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

Skaters

Skaters to watch

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

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
9Jack Eichel428102.50
95Victor Olofsson44151.25
48Tomas Hertl43251.25
86Nikita Kucherov31341.33
59Jake Guentzel31231.00
38Brandon Hagel31231.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
27Shea Theodore41230.75
15Noah Hanifin41010.25
74John Carlson30220.67
27Ryan McDonagh30000.00
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 12 Jan: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 11 Jan: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Vegas crease

VGK · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 11 Jan

Carter Hart.8903 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −1.1
Adin Hill.9001 GP · 1-0-0 · GSAx −0.5

No appearances against Tampa Bay in the last meetings.

Tampa Bay crease

TBL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 11 Jan

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

No appearances against Vegas 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 Nov 20259 · TBL 6–3 VGK
26 Oct 20253 · VGK 1–2 TBL
23 Mar 20256 · TBL 2–4 VGK
17 Oct 20247 · VGK 3–4 TBL
19 Mar 20248 · TBL 5–3 VGK

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Vegas4.252.503.233.05
Tampa Bay2.672.333.542.82

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 meetings6.6Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

6 on the injury lists

Vegas · injuries

Lukas CormierUndisclosedIRReturn22 Oct
Raphael LavoieUndisclosedOutReturn8 Oct
Victor OlofssonUndisclosedDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct

Tampa Bay · injuries

Dominic JamesHandIRReturn8 Oct
Emil LillebergUndisclosedOutReturn13 Oct
Yanni GourdeHipIRReturn2 Dec
30 Sep · VGK

Signed C William Karlsson to a two-year contract.

29 Sep · VGK

Placed C Jakub Cormier, RW Matyas Hemmerling and C Jakub Uchacz on the injured non-roster list.

23 Sep · VGK

Placed D Jaycob Megna, D Adam Ginning, D Joe Fleming, C Jakub Demek and D Jeremy Davies on waivers.

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.

Injury report
#29Juho PiiparinenRound 1 · TapparaD
#63ForfeitedRound 2 ·
#92Benjamin WilmottRound 3 · BarrieC
#95Sean BurickRound 3 · PentictonD
Full draft
#52Oleg KulebiakinRound 2 · HalifaxRW
#90Tomas KralovicRound 3 · BratislavaD
#134Morgan AnderbergRound 5 · VaxjoC
#154Cooper SollerRound 5 · Sioux FallsC
Full draft

Updated after every final