Early look · NHL 2026-27

Columbus Blue Jackets at Tampa Bay Lightning: game preview

ColumbusBlue Jackets2026-27: 1-1-0 · 2 pts · 2025-26: 40-30-12 · 92 pts · 17that

Tampa BayLightning2026-27: 2-1-0 · 4 pts · 2025-26: 50-26-6 · 106 pts · 5th

Puck drop1 Apr · 7:00 PM ET

VenueBenchmark International Arena

All-time meetings65 completed

BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26

The thesis

Fourteen points apart last season

Columbus finished last season 17th in the league on 92 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 66

Across 65 completed games, Tampa Bay lead the head-to-head 41-23-1.

All-time record41-23-1Tampa Bay's record in the series

Meetings played65This is number 66

2025-26 series—

Last 53-2Columbus

Last 5 meetings

See all: Last 5 meetings →

DateResultShotsPower playWinner

10 Mar 2026CBJ 5 – TBL 2——CBJ

24 Jan 2026TBL 5 – CBJ 8——CBJ

18 Oct 2025TBL 2 – CBJ 3——CBJ

4 Mar 2025CBJ 2 – TBL 6——TBL

17 Dec 2024CBJ 3 – TBL 5——TBL

Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateColumbusTampa Bay

18 Oct 20252-3-0 · 4 pts25th1-3-2 · 4 pts29th

24 Jan 202624-20-7 · 55 pts23rd32-14-4 · 68 pts4th

10 Mar 202633-21-10 · 76 pts12th39-20-4 · 82 pts6th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 18 Oct 2025, Columbus were 25th in the league and Tampa Bay 29th. By 10 Mar 2026 it was 12th and 6th.

Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Tampa Bay out-attempted Columbus 174 to 166

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

Columbus Blue Jackets

166 att · 94 on goal · 16 G · 17.0%

Crease14 att · 1 G

Slot65 att · 7 G

Wing54 att · 4 G

Point26 att · 2 G

Neutral zone7 att · 2 G

Tampa Bay Lightning

174 att · 72 on goal · 9 G · 12.5%

Crease12 att · 0 G

Slot54 att · 5 G

Wing62 att · 2 G

Point43 att · 1 G

Neutral zone3 att · 1 G

GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Columbus and Tampa Bay are level on 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.

ColumbusTampa Bay

2.43xG for per game4.04

2.78xG against per game2.64

46.7%xG share60.5%

+2.1FinishingGoals minus expected goals−4.1

−1.4GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+0.9

This season: 2 games for Columbus, 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

Columbus

Small sample

Power play · 2026-2740.0%

Power play · 2025-2618.9% · 22nd

Power play · last 5 meetings—

Penalty kill · 2026-2766.7%

Penalty kill · 2025-2676.0% · 28th

Faceoffs · 2026-2755.9% · 71/127

Drawn · 2026-275 (2.50/gm)

Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)

Shorthanded · 2026-279 (4.50/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.

Forwards to watch

See all: Forwards to watch →

PlayerGPGAPP/GP

89Matthew Knies22242.00

3Charlie Coyle20331.50

91Kent Johnson21121.00

86Nikita Kucherov31341.33

59Jake Guentzel31231.00

38Brandon Hagel31231.00

Points leaders

Defencemen to watch

See all: Defencemen to watch →

PlayerGPGAPP/GP

8Zach Werenski20221.00

36Emil Andrae20110.50

5Denton Mateychuk20110.50

74John Carlson30220.67

51Charle-Edouard D'Astous31010.33

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 →

Columbus

Expected starter after their game on 30 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Tampa Bay

Expected starter after their game on 30 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Columbus crease

CBJ · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 29 Mar

Jet Greaves.8772 GP · 1-1-0 · GSAx −1.4

No appearances against Tampa Bay in the last meetings.

Tampa Bay crease

TBL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 29 Mar

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

No appearances against Columbus in the last meetings.

Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.2 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

10 Mar 20267 · CBJ 5–2 TBL

24 Jan 202613 · TBL 5–8 CBJ

18 Oct 20255 · TBL 2–3 CBJ

4 Mar 20258 · CBJ 2–6 TBL

17 Dec 20248 · CBJ 3–5 TBL

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA

Columbus3.503.503.093.09

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 suggest6.2Goals in this game

Last 5 meetings8.2Goals per game

Line—No total posted yet

Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

3 on the injury lists

Columbus · injuries

No players listed.

Tampa Bay · injuries

Dominic JamesHandIRReturn8 Oct

Emil LillebergUndisclosedOutReturn13 Oct

Yanni GourdeHipIRReturn2 Dec

Latest moves

See all: Latest moves →

6 Oct · CBJ

Placed LW Mikael Pyyhtia on waivers.

1 Oct · CBJ

Placed D Ivan Provorov on injured reserve.

27 Sep · CBJ

Assigned G Pheonix Copley to Cleveland (AHL).

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

Columbus · 2026 draft

See all: Columbus · 2026 draft →

#14Oscar HemmingRound 1 · Boston CollegeLW

#94Alessandro Di IorioRound 3 · SarniaC

#121Evan JardineRound 4 · YoungstownLW

#142Parker SnellRound 5 · EdmontonG

Full draft

Tampa Bay · 2026 draft

See all: Tampa Bay · 2026 draft →

#52Oleg KulebiakinRound 2 · HalifaxRW

#90Tomas KralovicRound 3 · BratislavaD

#134Morgan AnderbergRound 5 · VaxjoC

#154Cooper SollerRound 5 · Sioux FallsC

Full draft

Thursday 1 April · the full slate

See all: Thursday 1 April · the full slate →

TBLThis game 7:00 PM ET

Updated after every final