NHL Desk · Lightning · Article 023 · By Cash Emerson Roper · October 31, 2026 · 6:02 PM ET

Stamkos Sends the Message: Predators 5, Lightning 4

Steven Stamkos tied it on the power play in the third period and scored the shootout’s only goal against the team he captained for ten seasons, outlasting Nikita Kucherov’s three-assist afternoon in the first meeting between the record holder and the man who took his record.

FINAL: Nashville Predators 5, Tampa Bay Lightning 4 (SO)

NASHVILLE — Conor Geekie scored 3:31 into the third period, and Tampa Bay had a 4–3 lead and a quiet building. Four minutes later, Scott Sabourin took a hooking penalty. Twenty-two seconds into the power play, Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal against his former team. And when sixty-five minutes could not settle it, Stamkos settled it himself — a backhand under Andrei Vasilevskiy’s right arm in the fourth round of the shootout, the only goal the shootout produced, and Nashville beat Tampa Bay 5–4.

The afternoon was billed as a changing of the guard. This week Nikita Kucherov passed Stamkos to become the Lightning’s all-time scoring leader. Kucherov honored the billing: three assists, on goals by three different teammates — the tying goal in the first period and go-ahead goals in the second. Stamkos answered with the two plays that decide standings points — the last goal of regulation and the last shot of the shootout.

How it was decided

Reid Schaefer opened the scoring at 11:14 of the first, his first goal of the season, finished off feeds from Alexander Kerfoot and Nick Perbix. John Carlson tied it 2:24 later, his slap shot deflecting in off Adam Edstrom’s stick. Then the second period opened like a starting gun: Jake Guentzel tipped in his eighth goal 18 seconds after the faceoff, and Edstrom answered on a two-on-one 27 seconds after that. Victor Hedman put Tampa Bay ahead 3–2 at 3:23. The lead lasted until the period’s final breath, when Jayden Struble scored with 18 seconds left to send the game to the third tied 3–3.

Geekie’s goal came on his only shot of the afternoon, in 10:02 of ice time. It was Tampa Bay’s third lead of the game. It lasted 3:56. Sabourin’s penalty put Nashville’s power play on the ice, and Stamkos — Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly with the assists — scored his eighth of the season at 7:27. It was the 246th power-play goal of his career, tying Phil Esposito for sixth in NHL history.

Overtime solved nothing. The shootout nearly didn’t either: Vasilevskiy stopped Filip Forsberg, O’Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault, and Justus Annunen stopped Pontus Holmberg, Brayden Point and Guentzel. Stamkos scored in the fourth round. Gage Goncalves had the last chance to extend it, and Annunen stopped him too. Annunen’s first career shootout came in his 83rd NHL appearance, a league record for the longest wait, and he went four-for-four.

The record and the man who held it

Grade Kucherov’s afternoon honestly: it was the best individual performance in the game. He assisted on the Carlson, Guentzel and Hedman goals — three different scorers, the first tying the game and the next two putting Tampa Bay in front — played 23:41, finished plus-3, and was named the game’s second star. The Lightning’s problem Saturday was never their best player.

Stamkos played 16:18 and put six shots on goal. For two periods he was a supporting actor in his own reunion. Then he owned the ending. There is a symmetry the box score cannot hold: no player in Lightning history produced more against Nashville than Stamkos did in a Tampa Bay sweater, 33 points in 26 games. On Saturday, wearing Nashville’s, he produced the two plays that beat Tampa Bay. He was the first star. Kucherov, the man who took his record, was the second. The voters in the building had the order right, and so did the afternoon.

The honest section

Tampa Bay led 2–1, 3–2 and 4–3, and lost all three leads. Nashville erased a one-goal deficit three times before it ever led in the shootout. A Lightning power play that had scored in five straight games went 0-for-3, and the game’s only power-play goal belonged to the other side — scored, of course, by Stamkos. That is the loss in one paragraph: Tampa Bay’s special teams came up empty, and Nashville’s cashed the one that mattered.

Brandon Hagel, who leads Tampa Bay in goals and points, finished pointless and minus-3. Hedman’s minutes stayed managed — 16:43, two days after he played 18:06 in his return — and he still scored his third goal of the season. Vasilevskiy made 29 saves and three more stops in the shootout before Stamkos beat him; he was not the reason. Nashville outshot Tampa Bay 33–26 and, at even strength, carried more of the game than the score’s closeness suggests.

What it means

Tampa Bay leaves at 8-3-2 with 18 points — a point taken, and one given back. The Lightning are home Tuesday against Detroit, where they are 6-0-0 and chasing the franchise record for a home start. Nashville, 5-4-5, finally won a game that went past regulation: the Predators had lost their first five overtime and shootout decisions of the season before Saturday, and they ended a two-game losing streak doing it. The season series closes December 29 in Tampa.

Kucherov has the record now. Stamkos, for one afternoon in Nashville, had the game.

Scoring

First period
Nashville — Reid Schaefer (1) from Alexander Kerfoot and Nick Perbix, 11:14
Tampa Bay — John Carlson (5) from Nikita Kucherov and Charle-Edouard D’Astous, 13:38

Second period
Tampa Bay — Jake Guentzel (8) from John Carlson and Nikita Kucherov, 0:18
Nashville — Adam Edstrom (5) from Brady Skjei and Nick Perbix, 0:45
Tampa Bay — Victor Hedman (3) from Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, 3:23
Nashville — Jayden Struble (2) from Adam Wilsby and Filip Forsberg, 19:42

Third period
Tampa Bay — Conor Geekie (4) from Jeffrey Viel, 3:31
Nashville — Steven Stamkos (8), power play, from Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly, 7:27

Overtime — No scoring

Shootout — Nashville 1, Tampa Bay 0. Steven Stamkos scored in the fourth round; Gage Goncalves was stopped by Justus Annunen to end it.

By the Numbers

Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay): 3 assists, plus-3, 23:41 TOI — set up three different goal scorers (Carlson’s tying goal; Guentzel’s and Hedman’s go-ahead goals).

Steven Stamkos (Nashville): 1 goal (power play, his 8th), 6 shots, 16:18 TOI, plus the shootout winner in the fourth round. First star of the game.

John Carlson (Tampa Bay): 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots. Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay): 1 goal, 25:56 TOI.

Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay): 1 goal (his 3rd), 16:43 TOI in a still-managed role.

Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay): 0 points, minus-3, 3 shots, 20:13 TOI.

Filip Forsberg (Nashville): 2 assists. Nick Perbix (Nashville): 2 assists. Adam Edstrom (Nashville): 1 goal.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay): 29 saves on 33 shots; stopped 3 of 4 in the shootout.

Justus Annunen (Nashville): 22 saves on 26 shots; stopped all 4 Tampa Bay shooters in the first shootout of his career.

Sources

Final box score, scoring summary, shootout detail and player statistics: NHL official gamecenter, Tampa Bay at Nashville, Oct. 31, 2026 (NHL API, game 2026020219) — goalie lines, ice time and goal strengths taken from the official record.

Team records and points: NHL official standings, Oct. 31, 2026 (Tampa Bay 8-3-2, 18 pts; Nashville 5-4-5, 15 pts).

Game narrative, Stamkos’s 246th career power-play goal tying Phil Esposito for sixth in NHL history, and Annunen’s shootout detail: Associated Press game story, Oct. 31, 2026; Reuters / Field Level Media game story, Oct. 31, 2026.

Pregame record storyline (Kucherov passing Stamkos for the Lightning franchise points record; Stamkos’s career scoring line against Nashville; Tampa Bay’s power-play streak and home record): Reuters, Oct. 30, 2026; NHL.com Lightning preview, Oct. 30, 2026; Tampa Bay 28 preview, Oct. 2026.

Cash Emerson Roper hosts Front Office Blueprint, a daily sports-business show based in Orlando. His background is coaching and the building: head varsity baseball, football, and basketball coach, strength-and-conditioning work with college and pro athletes, and two seasons (2016–18) running game-night promotions for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays.

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