Early look · NHL 2026-27

Tampa Bay Lightning at St. Louis Blues: game preview

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

St. LouisBlues2026-27: 1-2-0 · 2 pts · 2025-26: 37-33-12 · 86 pts · 22nd

Puck drop13 Dec · 8:00 PM ET

VenueEnterprise Center

All-time meetings56 completed

BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26

The thesis

Twenty points apart last season

Tampa Bay finished last season 5th in the league on 106 points. St. Louis finished 22nd on 86.

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

Head-to-head

Meeting number 57

Across 56 completed games, St. Louis lead the head-to-head 36-18-2.

All-time record36-18-2St. Louis's record in the series

Meetings played56This is number 57

2025-26 series—

Last 53-2Tampa Bay

Last 5 meetings

See all: Last 5 meetings →

DateResultShotsPower playWinner

16 Jan 2026TBL 2 – STL 3 SO——STL

22 Dec 2025STL 1 – TBL 4——TBL

19 Dec 2024STL 1 – TBL 3——TBL

5 Nov 2024TBL 2 – STL 3——STL

19 Dec 2023STL 1 – TBL 6——TBL

Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateTampa BaySt. Louis

22 Dec 202520-13-3 · 43 pts9th14-16-8 · 36 pts25th

16 Jan 202629-13-4 · 62 pts3rd19-21-8 · 46 pts27th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 22 Dec 2025, Tampa Bay were 9th in the league and St. Louis 25th. By 16 Jan 2026 it was 3rd and 27th.

Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Tampa Bay out-attempted St. Louis 122 to 93

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

Tampa Bay Lightning

122 att · 53 on goal · 6 G · 11.3%

Crease10 att · 0 G

Slot44 att · 4 G

Wing42 att · 2 G

Point26 att · 0 G

Neutral zone0 att · 0 G

St. Louis Blues

93 att · 45 on goal · 3 G · 6.7%

Crease10 att · 0 G

Slot34 att · 2 G

Wing31 att · 0 G

Point16 att · 1 G

Neutral zone2 att · 0 G

GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Tampa Bay and St. Louis 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.

Tampa BaySt. Louis

4.04xG for per game2.69

2.64xG against per game3.33

60.5%xG share44.7%

−4.1FinishingGoals minus expected goals−1.1

+0.9GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed−0.0

This season: 3 games for Tampa Bay, 3 for St. Louis. 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

St. Louis

Small sample

Power play · 2026-2712.5%

Power play · 2025-2617.6% · 26th

Power play · last 5 meetings—

Penalty kill · 2026-2790.0%

Penalty kill · 2025-2676.7% · 25th

Faceoffs · 2026-2744.6% · 83/186

Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)

Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)

Shorthanded · 2026-2710 (3.33/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

86Nikita Kucherov31341.33

59Jake Guentzel31231.00

38Brandon Hagel31231.00

77Connor McMichael31231.00

83Mason McTavish32020.67

15Dalibor Dvorsky32020.67

Points leaders

Defencemen to watch

See all: Defencemen to watch →

PlayerGPGAPP/GP

74John Carlson30220.67

51Charle-Edouard D'Astous31010.33

27Ryan McDonagh30000.00

6Philip Broberg30220.67

55Colton Parayko30110.33

4Theo Lindstein30110.33

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 →

Tampa Bay

Expected starter after their game on 12 Dec: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

St. Louis

Expected starter after their game on 12 Dec: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Tampa Bay crease

TBL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 10 Dec

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

No appearances against St. Louis in the last meetings.

St. Louis crease

STL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 10 Dec

Joel Hofer.9552 GP · 1-1-0 · GSAx +2.8

Jordan Binnington.8331 GP · 0-1-0 · GSAx −2.5

No appearances against Tampa Bay in the last meetings.

Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.0 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

16 Jan 20265 · TBL 2–3 STL

22 Dec 20255 · STL 1–4 TBL

19 Dec 20244 · STL 1–3 TBL

5 Nov 20245 · TBL 2–3 STL

19 Dec 20237 · STL 1–6 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

St. Louis2.333.332.823.15

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 suggest6.0Goals in this game

Last 5 meetings5.2Goals 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

St. Louis · injuries

Alexey ToropchenkoUpper BodyIRReturn14 Nov

Felix TrudeauUndisclosedIRReturn10 Oct

Logan MaillouxHandIRReturn25 Nov

Tyler TuckerKneeIRReturn12 Nov

Latest moves

See all: Latest moves →

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.

5 Oct · STL

Placed LW Alexey Toropchenko on injured reserve.

27 Sep · STL

Placed G Georgii Romanov and D Calle Rosen on waivers. Claimed RD Justin Barron off waivers.

19 Sep · STL

Placed D Marc Andre Gaudet was placed on waivers.

Injury report

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

St. Louis · 2026 draft

See all: St. Louis · 2026 draft →

#11Tynan LawrenceRound 1 · Boston UniversityC

#16Maddox DagenaisRound 1 · QuebecC

#75Luke SchairerRound 3 · Usa U-18D

#107Landon NyczRound 4 · UmassD

Full draft

Sunday 13 December · the full slate

See all: Sunday 13 December · the full slate →

Updated after every final