Raw Charge
Summary
It’s a shame either team had to take a loss in a back-and-forth game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Utah Mammoth. Unfortunately for the Bolts, they came out on the losing end as Dmitri Simashev scored 1:44 into the bonus frame to give the home team a 5-4 win. Earlier in the night, Nikita Kucherov set the Lightning’s franchise record for regular season points as he recorded his 1,138th point on a power play assist in the first period. For the first time since opening night, the Lightning went with a 12/6 rotation as Victor Hedman was held out due to an undisclosed injury. Emil Lilleberg filled in for the injured captain while Jeff Viel and Scott Sabourin returned to the line-up. Injuries would strike for the second night in a row as Zemgus Girgensons left the game in the second period and didn’t return. There was a little bit of everything in the first period. The teams traded own goals to open things up. First it was Nick Schmaltz trying to clear a puck and inadvertently shooting it past his goaltender into the net (Jake Guentzel received credit). Then, it was Emil Lilleberg who deflected a puck past Dennis Hildeby as the defenseman laid out to take away a two-on-one passing lane, but Kailer Yamamoto’s shot hit his stick and went into the net. Special teams was going to be a hot spot for the game tonight and the Lightning looked good in killing an early Utah power play. They also dominated possession on their first chance with the extra skater, but failed to find the back of the net. However, much like they did against Colorado, they scored shortly after the opportunity when Pontus Holmberg charged down the left side and snapped a shot past Karel Vejmelka. Gifted another power play opportunity, the Lightning cashed in as Nikita Kucherov fed the puck down low to Brayden Point, who had position in front of the net and was able to tap it into the net. Kucherov’s teammates spilled out onto the ice to celebrate his milestone point. Utah wasn’t going to let the Lightning celebrate in peace and on their second power play of the period, they cut the score to 3-2 as Dylan Guenther one-timed home a cross-ice feed. Should they have been on the power play? That’s questionable as Lilleberg was in the box for interference after he dumped Yamamoto to the ice after the Utah forward landed a fairly big hit to the numbers along the boards that went uncalled. If either coach preached restraint to their team in the first intermission, the advice went unheeded. The track meet continued as both teams raced to pile up chances and shots at the net. It was the Lightning that found the twine first as Conor Geekie, playing the franchise that traded him, sped past Mikhail Sergachev and beat Vejmelka with a backhand-to-forehand move. Shortly after, he almost had his second of the night in reverse, but the Utah netminder made the stop. Despite being down by two, Utah kept pushing and Anders Lee deflected a shot that Hildeby seemed to have for a moment, but the puck got past him just as a Mammoth power play expired. The home crowd took it to another level three minutes later when Dmitri Simashev wristed a shot past Hildeby to tie the game at four. Why not a breakaway in overtime to keep the pulse racing. At the end of his shift, J.J. Moser created a turnover at the redline and lumbered into the Utah zone all alone. He tried his best to beat the netminder, but Vejmekla came up with the save. A few minutes later it was Simashev who ended things as he tucked home a feed from Barrett Hayton off of the rush to give the home team the 5-4 win. After eight different goal-scorers scored in the first two periods, it’s only reasonable to think that things would slow down a bit in the third period. For the most part they did as both teams seemed a little more conservative over the first ten minutes. Utah thought they had the go-ahead goal at the midpoint of the period, but the officials waved it off due to contact between Anders Lee and Hildeby. Following that stoppage, the Lightning had their best look of the period as Hagel snapped a wrist shot through a high screen, but Vejmelka made the save. Hildeby’s best save came late in the period after Anthony Cirelli made an unforced turnover in his own zone that led to a point-blank shot from Clayton Keller. That was the last great chance for either team in regulation. Overtime always seemed to be in the cards for this game, and that future was not to be denied. The Goals Jake Guentzel (7) [unassisted] 1-0 Lightning Tampa Bay goal!Scored by Charle-Edouard D'Astous with 14:50 left in the 1st.UTA: 0 | TBL: 1#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T01:32:25.577190Z Kailer Yamamoto [unassisted]1-1 Utah goal!Scored by Kailer Yamamoto with 12:58 left in the 1st.UTA: 1 | TBL: 1#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T01:33:15.085312Z Pontus Holmberg (3) [Erik Cernak, Ryan McDonagh] 2-1 Lightning Tampa Bay goal!Scored by Pontus Holmberg with 09:54 left in the 1st. Assisted by Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh.UTA: 1 | TBL: 2#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T01:45:26.252016Z Brayden Point (2} [Nikita Kucherov, Charle-Edouard D’Astous] Power Play, 3-1 Power play goal for Tampa Bay!Scored by Brayden Point with 07:18 left in the 1st. Assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Charle-Edouard D'Astous.UTA: 1 | TBL: 3#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T01:54:53.495318Z Dylan Guenther (5) [Mikhail Sergachev, Clayton Keller] Power Play. 3-2 Power play goal for Utah!Scored by Dylan Guenther with 02:21 left in the 1st. Assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Clayton Keller.UTA: 2 | TBL: 3#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T02:01:36.173905Z Conor Geekie (2) [Scott Sabourin] 4-2 Lightning OH MY GOODNESS, CONOR GEEKIE! 😮💨 — NHL (Bot) (@notnhl.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T02:28:48.400182Z Anders Lee (3) [MacKenzie Weegar, Vincent Trocheck] 4-3 Lightning Utah goal!Scored by Anders Lee with 05:21 left in the 2nd. Assisted by MacKenzie Weegar and Vincent Trocheck.UTA: 3 | TBL: 4#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T02:52:25.466992Z Dmitri Simashev (1) [Andrew Peeke, Vincent Trocheck] 4-4 Utah goal!Scored by Dmitri Simashev with 02:58 left in the 2nd. Assisted by Andrew Peeke and Vincent Trocheck.UTA: 4 | TBL: 4#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T03:01:36.696370Z Dmitri Simashev (2) [Barrett Hayton, Karol Vejmelka], 5-4 Mammoth Utah goal!Scored by Dmitri Simashev with 03:16 left in the OT. Assisted by Barrett Hayton and Karel Vejmelka.UTA: 5 | TBL: 4#TBLvsUTA #TusksUp #GoBolts — NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) 2026-10-25T04:11:36.743795Z