Brandon Hagel entered Monday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche one goal away from 100 in his NHL career, but it was the Tampa Bay Lightning forward’s passing that took center stage for the home team in an 8-2 win at AMALIE Arena.
Hagel danced, dished and delivered all night long, setting a new franchise record for most assists in a period with four to carry the Lightning to a 5-1 lead through one period. The Canadian forward also matched the franchise record for most assists in a game, adding a fifth helper in the second period.
Hagel’s four assists in the first period tied him with numerous NHL Hall of Famers for the most ever, joining a list that includes Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and 12 others.
"He was outstanding,” Lightning forward Luke Glendening said Monday after scoring his first goal of the year with an assist from Hagel. “I mean, they were talking after the game, there's only a couple guys to do it. And the big names with him, it's an unbelievable accomplishment for him."
Nick Perbix got Tampa Bay on the scoresheet with a shot from the right faceoff circle, beating Avalanche goalie Justus Annunen on the left post 5:41 into the game. Hagel set up a power-play goal for Jake Guentzel at the 7:46 mark, and Colorado’s Ivan Ivan made it 2-1 with 11:04 to play in the period.
Hagel and the Lightning answered with three goals in 9:43 of game time, as Hagel found Kucherov for a one-timer at the right faceoff dot to chase Annunen from the net midway through the first period. Hagel then shot the puck off the far pad of relief goalie Alexander Georgiev, giving Glendening an short-handed goal on a two-on-one break rebound with 6:45 left in the first.
"I think killing off a penalty brings momentum,” Hagel said. “Scoring on a penalty kill brings a lot of momentum. And I think that was just kind of the dagger there.”
Hagel finished the four-assist period with his linemate, earning a secondary assist on Anthony Cirelli’s ninth goal of the year with 14 seconds left in the opening frame. Cirelli’s goal extended his scoring streak to six games, the longest in the NHL this season.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper gave both Hagel and Cirelli credit for their performance on Monday, which saw a rotation of players on their line due to only having 11 forwards with an injury to Nick Paul.
“Pretty sure guys want to be in that spot, but they have a tough assignment and they play against some of the best players in the world in MacKinnon and Rantanen and Lehkonen. That’s a tough assignment,” Cooper said. “They have to jump over every third and fourth shift and go play against those guys. So to deliver how they did today again shows what type of players they are.”
Hagel’s four first-period assists helped the Lightning to a 5-1 advantage through 20 minutes of hockey as five different players scored goals.
Hagel still wasn’t done, though–the forward got his fifth assist of the night on the lone goal of the second period when he got the puck above the crease and tapped it over to Brayden Point, who scored the second power-play goal of the game for Tampa Bay 9:38 into the middle frame.
Ivan scored his second goal of the night 1:08 into the third period before Guentzel got his second goal of the game two minutes later. Mikey Eyssimont closed the scoring 4:44 into the third, scoring his first goal of the year after a pass from Zemgus Girgensons—who earned his 100th career assist on the play.
"It's been a bit of a grind for us,” Glendening said of the fourth line getting on the scoresheet. “I know we're not expected to put up big, gaudy numbers, but you want to help. You want to put the puck in the net and get some points. So it was nice to get all of us on there tonight, and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 23 of 25 shots to improve to 10-6-1 this season. He is one of five goalies in the NHL to have 10 wins already in the 2024-25 calendar.
Kucherov added two assists to his goal and is tied for fifth in NHL scoring after Monday with 12 goals, 20 assists and 32 points.
Tampa Bay felt they played the right way on Monday, and their top performer on the night mentioned it, too.
"I think tonight we came out, we stuck with it right from the puck drop,” Hagel said. “Everyone in this room played the right way, got it behind them, didn't force anything, did the right things. And if we can play like that every night, I think good things are gonna happen."
Tampa Bay improved to 11-7-2 with the win and next hosts the Washington Capitals on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Capitals are 14-6-1 this season, with one of their six losses coming in a 3-0 shutout victory for Tampa Bay on Oct. 26.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Brandon Hagel, TBL (5 assists)
- Nikita Kucherov, TBL (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Nick Perbix, TBL (1 goal, 1 assist)
