The Tampa Lightning will look to make it seven wins in a row as they battle the Carolina Hurricanes for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The puck drops on Thursday night at 7 p.m. EST.

The Lightning are 38-14-4 and first in the Atlantic Division. They just played yesterday and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 at home. In the second period, the Bolts scored two goals a minute apart and got an insurance goal early in the third. Tampa outshot Toronto 36-34, but lost in faceoffs 34-28 and in hits 18-17. The power play was 0-for-4, and the penalty kill was 1-for-2 on stops. The Lightning had some good looks blocked, and they had all three of the three stars spots, with Brayden Point as the first star with two goals and one assist.

The Hurricanes are 36-15-6 and first in the Metropolitan Division. Three weeks ago, they beat the New York Rangers on the road 2-0. The Canes scored in the first period and got an empty-netter to put the game away. Carolina outshot New York 43-16 and won on faceoffs 27-19, but lost in hits 27-11. The power play was 0-for-3, and the penalty kill was 2-for-2 on stops. For both teams, giveaways were high, and the Canes struggled to get some good scoring chances all the way to the net. Andrei Svechnikov was the first star of the game with one goal.

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Note: The above data was collected on Feb. 25, 2026, and may have changed since writing.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Carolina Hurricanes

Tampa Bay is second in scoring, second in goals against, 12th on the power play, and fourth on the penalty kill. Nikita Kucherov leads the team in goals, assists, and points. He continues his MVP-caliber season with 94 points in 52 games. Because they played last night, the Lightning may start backup goalie Jonas Johansson instead of star Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning are 19-5-4 on the road and 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.

Carolina is seventh in scoring, seventh in goals against, 14th on the power play, and 11th on the penalty kill. Sebastian Aho leads the team in assists and points. The Hurricanes are 21-8-2 at home and 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. Carolina is unbeaten in regulation over their last 10 games. Frederik Andersen is expected to return to the net after competing in the Olympics for Denmark. Before the break, they won three games in a row and are playing solid on both sides of the puck.

Best Bet: Hurricanes Money line

This will be the second night of back-to-backs for Tampa and their first road game in a while. On Dec. 20, the Canes lost at Tampa 6-4 and will look to take care of business on home ice and keep their mini winning streak going. It should be a close and low-scoring game.