Raw Charge
Summary
The Tampa Bay Lightning surrendered a goal just over a minute into the game and then spent the rest of the night chasing a determined Colorado Avalanche team on their way to a 6-3 loss. Jake Guentzel scored twice while Charle-Edouard D’Astous recorded his second goal of the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18-of-23 shots as the Bolts failed to contain Colorado’s top line. Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, and Artturi Lehtonen were on the ice for three of the Avalanche’s goals at 5v5 while all three had multi-point nights. MacKinnon finished with a goal and three assists while Necas had a goal and two helpers. Lehtonen had a goal and an assist as Colorado finished 1-for-3 on the power play. Tampa Bay was credited a power play goal in six chances. There was plenty of pace in the first period between the two teams. Unfortunately, the home team had the better of the play for most of it. After the Lightning started with a flurry of chances against MacKenzie Blackwood, the Avalanche’s top line pedaled down the ice and a crisp passing play by Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas allowed Devon Toews a chance at the net with Andrei Vasilevskiy out of position. The veteran defenseman didn’t miss as he gave them the lead just over a minute into the game. It felt like the Lightning were chasing the game a bit after that. They would string a few chances together, but turnovers and bad passing failed to generate much danger. Much like he did against Vegas, Vasilevskiy held the fort down for the most part, but a Brandon Hagel penalty would lead to a power play goal for Colorado. T.J. Hughes made a nice pass to Nazem Kadri who was unmarked in front of the net. He slammed it home for his first goal of the season. As the period progressed, the Bolts found their footing and had some long shifts where they were able to cycle the puck. They just couldn’t get one past Blackwood. They actually doubled up the Avs in terms of 5v5 shots (12-6) and had the edge in scoring chances (5-3), they just couldn’t finish off those chances. Vasilevskiy kept them in it when Colorado did attack with his save on MacKinnon from the side of the net being one of his best. After giving up a goal just 68 seconds into the first period, the Lightning did themselves one better by giving one up just 24 seconds into the second. A turnover in the neutral zone led to a rush chance. Erik Cernak did a good job of using his stick to deflect a centering pass, but the puck popped up into the air and Fedor Svechkov swatted it into the net to make it 3-0 in favor of the Avalanche. Not only were they down on the scoreboard, they were also down a player as Victor Hedman took just one shift in the second period and didn’t return for the third. The Bolts might have struggled to get shots past Blackwood, but they did force Colorado to take some penalties as they had five power plays in the second period alone. On the second one, they connected. It was pretty simple. They won a face-off and worked the puck to the point where Charle-Edouard D’Astous ripped one on net. Blackwood made the stop, but Jake Guentzel was there to put the rebound home. The goal generated some momentum, but the Nathan MacKinnon line continued their dominance. MacKinnon found Artturi Lehkonen in front of the net and the hottest shooter in the league make it 4-1. The Bolts did manage to cut the lead back to just two goals when Jake Guentzel scored his second of the night just as one of their power plays expired. Colorado challenged the goal as they thought there was a missed stoppage in play. A lengthy, lengthy stoppage in play ensued as the officials either checked in on the World Series or went frame by frame to see if the puck grazed the net. In the end they could not justify overturning the goal, so it stood. Neither team had much going early in the third period, at least until Nathan MacKinnon stepped on the ice. He took a pass in the neutral zone and zipped by John Carlson before ripping a shot past Vasilevskiy to make it 5-2. After being held pointless in his previous two contests, MacKinnon bounced back with a casual four-point night. There was 15 minutes to go in the game, but it was all but over at that point. The Lightning had one last gasp at a comeback as Charle-Edouard D’Astous scored his second goal of the season (off of an assist from Gage Goncalves, who picked up his first point of the season), but that would be as close as they got. With just under three minutes to go, Coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra skater. The goalie had barely tumbled over the boards before Martin Necas picked off the clearing pass, got the puck back from Gabe Landeskog and slid it into the empty net to make it 6-3. With the loss, the Bolts dropped to 2-3 on the road and 1-1 on the current trip away from Benchmark International Arena. They won’t have long to dwell on the loss as they are off to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Mammoth Saturday night. The Goals Devon Toews (3) [Martin Necas, Nathan MacKinnon] 1-0 Avalanche Colorado goal!Scored by Devon Toews with 18:52 left in the 1st. Assisted by Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon.COL: 1 | TBL: 0#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T01:21:35.093181Z Nazem Kadri (1) [T.J. Hughes, Nathan MacKinnon] Power Play, 2-0 Avalanche Power play goal for Colorado!Scored by Nazem Kadri with 14:08 left in the 1st. Assisted by T.J. Hughes and Nathan MacKinnon.COL: 2 | TBL: 0#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T01:31:38.937803Z Fedor Svechkov (2) [Jayden Schwartz] 3-0 Avalanche Colorado goal!Scored by Fedor Svechkov with 19:36 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Jaden Schwartz.COL: 3 | TBL: 0#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T02:21:36.466720Z Jake Guentzel (5) [Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Brayden Point] Power Play, 3-1 Avalanche Power play goal for Tampa Bay!Scored by Jake Guentzel with 11:47 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Charle-Edouard D'Astous and Brayden Point.COL: 3 | TBL: 1#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T02:41:35.242291Z Artturi Lehkonen (9) [Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews] 4-1 Avalanche Colorado goal!Scored by Artturi Lehkonen with 06:03 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews.COL: 4 | TBL: 1#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T02:51:35.393325Z Jake Guentzel (6) [Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel], 4-2 Avalanche Tampa Bay goal!Scored by Jake Guentzel with 00:43 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel.COL: 4 | TBL: 2#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T03:01:35.796583Z Nathan MacKinnon (7) [Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas] 5-2 Avalanche Colorado goal!Scored by Nathan MacKinnon with 15:42 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas.COL: 5 | TBL: 2#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T03:32:57.832485Z Charle-Edouard D’Astous (2) [Gage Goncalves, Max Crozier) 5-3 Avalanche Tampa Bay goal!Scored by Charle-Edouard D'Astous with 04:47 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Gage Goncalves and Max Crozier.COL: 5 | TBL: 3#TBLvsCOL #GoAvsGo #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-24T04:01:37.260904Z Martin Necas (6) [Gabe Landeskog] Empty Net, 6-3 Avalanche No video for empty-net goals.