Raw Charge
Summary
(4) Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3-1, 15 PTS) Goals For: 38 (T-11th in the NHL)*; Goals Against: 34 (T-12th fewest in the NHL)* *As of October 24th Last week: (1-1-1) Tuesday, October 20, 2026 TBL: 6 VGK: 2 Kucherov ties Stamkos as Lightning top Golden Knights, 6-2 Friday, October 23, 2026 TBL: 3 COL: 6 Lightning chase Avalanche all night, drop game 6-3 Saturday, October 24, 2026 TBL: 4 UTA: 5 (OT) Lightning lose to Mammoth in overtime as Kucherov sets franchise record Upcoming Schedule: Thursday, October 29 – vs WPG, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – @ NSH, 2 p.m. ET (1) Boston Bruins (9-2-1, 19 PTS) GF: 48 (4th); GA: 26 (3rd) Last week: (2-0-1) Tuesday, October 20, 2026 BOS: 2 DAL: 3 (OT) Recap: Bruins fizzle out down the stretch, lose to Dallas in OT Thursday, October 22, 2026 NSH: 0 BOS: 6 Recap: B’s run over Predators in 6-0 win Saturday, October 24, 2026 SJS: 4 BOS: 6 Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 27 – @ CAR, 8 p.m. ET Thursday, October 29 – @ STL, 8 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – vs CHI, 1 p.m. ET (2) Ottawa Senators (8-4-0, 16 PTS) GF: 38 (T-11th); GA: 34 (T-12th) Last week: (2-1-0) Wednesday, October 21, 2026 FLA: 1 OTT: 5 SENS ROUT PANTHERS, 5-1, IN BRADY TKACHUK’S RETURN Thursday, October 22, 2026 SJS: 6 OTT: 2 Posts, Defensive Breakdowns Sink Sens Against Sharks 6-2 Saturday, October 24, 2026 NYR: 4 OTT: 7 Batherson Gets Hat Trick in 7-4 Win Over Rangers Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 27 – @ VGK, 10 p.m. ET Thursday, October 29 – @ LAK, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – @ SJS, 4 p.m. ET Sunday, November 1 – @ ANA, 8 p.m. ET (3) Toronto Maple Leafs (7-4-2, 16 PTS) GF: 50 (2nd); GA: 41 (T-27th) Last week: (4-0-0) Monday, October 19, 2026 SJS: 1 TOR: 3 Tuesday’s FTB: McKenna with the game winner Tuesday, October 20, 2026 TOR: 6 CBJ: 2 Wednesday’s FTB: Hot knife through butter last night Thursday, October 22, 2026 NYR: 4 TOR: 5 Friday’s FTB: Stecher wins it Saturday, October 24, 2026 TOR: 6 EDM: 3 Sunday’s FTB: Stecher waved to the crowd Upcoming Schedule: Monday, October 26 – @ CGY, 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, October 28 – @ SEA, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – @ VAN, 7 p.m. ET (5) Montreal Canadiens (6-3-2, 14 PTS) GF: 36 (T-18th); GA: 36 (T-17th) Last week: (2-0-1) Tuesday, October 20, 2026 SJS: 4 MTL: 3 (OT) Canadiens vs. Sharks Top Six Minutes: The Habs do everything in their power to give away a win Friday, October 23, 2026 MTL: 4 CHI: 1 Bottom Six Minutes: Sans Suzuki, Jake Evans steps up for Montreal Sunday, October 25, 2026 MTL: 2 WPG: 1 2026 Heritage Classic Top Six Minutes: Jacob Fowler leads Montreal’s win over Winnipeg *2026 NHL Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 27 – @ STL, 8 p.m. ET Thursday, October 29 – @ DAL, 8 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – vs PIT, 7 p.m. ET (6) Florida Panthers (6-4-2, 14 PTS) GF: 34 (T-21st); GA: 36 (T-12th) Last week: (1-2-0) Wednesday, October 21, 2026 FLA: 1 OTT: 5 Senators unwelcome hosts in 5-1 win over Panthers Thursday, October 22, 2026 FLA: 0 PIT: 4 Panthers give Black no support in 4-0 loss to Penguins Sunday, October 25, 2026 FLA: 3 CHI: 2 Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 27 – @ WPG, 8 p.m. ET Friday, October 30 – @ WPG, 7 p.m. ET (7) Detroit Red Wings (4-4-3, 11 PTS) GF: 29 (T-23rd); GA: 34 (T-12th) Last week: (1-1-1) Tuesday, October 20, 2026 DET: 3 SEA: 4 (SO) Thursday, October 22, 2026 DET: 5 VAN: 2 Saturday, October 24, 2026 DET: 1 CGY: 4 Upcoming Schedule: Monday, October 26 – @ EDM, 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday, October 29 – vs CHI, 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – vs STL, 1 p.m. ET (8) Buffalo Sabres (4-4-3, 11 PTS) GF: 31 (T-21st); GA: 41 (T-27th) Last week: (0-1-1) Wednesday, October 21, 2026 PHI: 3 BUF: 1 Sabres rue missed chances in 3-1 loss to Flyers Saturday, October 24, 2026 BUF: 3 WSH: 4 (OT) Capitals Tuch In the Sleepwalking Sabres, Beat Buffalo 4-3 in OT Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 27 – @ SJS, 10:30 p.m. ET Thursday, October 29 – @ ANA, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, October 31 – @ LAK, 4 p.m. ET The Tampa Bay Lightning were bounced to 4th place this week in the Atlantic Division after Boston continued their impressive start and Toronto went undefeated in four games jumping from last place in the Atlantic last week to third this week. Ottawa is keeping pace at the top to remain in second and while it wasn’t a great week for the bottom half of the Atlantic, every team is .500 after the first month of the season. Tampa Bay was on the road last week and Andrei Vasilevskiy made the final score look lopsided in Las Vegas in the Lightning’s 6-2 victory over the Golden Knights to start the week. A few nights later Vasilevskiy had a rough game in Denver allowing 5 goals on 23 shots in the Lightning’s 6-3 loss to the Avalanche. The Lightning would blow a 4-2 lead in the second period against Utah the following night but held on for the Bettman point in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Mammoth to wrap the week at 1-1-1. Not too bad considering the quality of the opponents. The biggest news for the Lightning last week was obviously Nikita Kucherov overtaking Steven Stamkos for the franchise points record. It became official 12:42 into the 2nd Period on a Brayden Point power-play goal, also assisted by Charle-Edouard D’Astous for a bit of trivia knowledge. That assist gave Kucherov 1,138 career points (405 goals, 733 assists) in 890 career games with the Lightning. (obligatory: PAY THE MAN!!!!!) Tampa Bay has several days off to rest their bones at sea level after the altitude sickness from the Rockies and do not play again until Thursday at home against Winnipeg. The Lightning are 5-0 at Benchmark (and all it’s former names) for the fourth time in Lightning history, with the franchise record 6-0 done twice (2017-18, 2020-21). The longest point streak at home was set in 2009-10 when the Lightning began 5-0-4. The Bolts will then head to Nashville just in time for Kucherov to face Stamkos in person after breaking his old record on Saturday. Boston remains at the top of the Atlantic Division this week and are second overall in the NHL, one point behind Carolina. The Bruins and Hurricanes will meet on Tuesday night on ESPN. If there’s any game you should watch besides the Lightning this week, I recommend that one. Boston recorded points in every game going 2-0-1 and are top five in the league in goals for and goals against. They are once again led by David Pastrnak (6 goals, 10 assists) and great goaltending by Jeremy Swayman (6-1-1, .928 SV%, 1.98 GAA) and Michael DiPietro (2-1, .941 SV%, 1.69 GAA). However, Boston’s advanced stats aren’t as dominant as their record shows: xGF%: 52.4% (12th in NHL) Corsi For: 49.2% (17th) Fenwich For: 50.6% (14th) High Danger Chances For: 119 (6th)/124 (27th), 48.97% (19th) HDGF/HDGA: 16 (T-4th), 6 (T-2nd) *via Natural Stat Trick as of October 25th Those advanced stats show a team that gives up more shots and high-danger chances per game than their opponent. Boston has only given up six high-danger goals this season, second fewest in the league despite allowing the 27th most chances defensively. Boston also has the sixth most high-danger chances and fourth most high-danger goals in the league, yet are still giving up more chances on defense. Will the Bruins be able to keep up their success? As long as they continue getting a .932 team save percentage, they’ll remain one of the best teams in the NHL. The good times keep rolling in Ottawa this year. The Senators went 2-1 last week highlighted by the return of Brady Tkachuk to Ottawa on Wednesday night. Tkachuk opened the scoring but the Senators had all the fun the rest of the way and beat up on the Panthers 5-1. That momentum didn’t carry over after the Sharks had their way with the Senators in a 6-2 loss but Ottawa finished their week with a bang as Drake Batherson scored a hat trick in Ottawa’s 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers. The Senators begin a four game western road trip playing all four California teams after starting in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The better times are rolling in Toronto right now after they went undefeated last week against San Jose (3-1), Columbus (6-2), NY Rangers (5-4) and finishing the week with an exclamation point in a 7-2 win over Edmonton, in Edmonton, to finish their week 4-0 and move into 3rd in the Atlantic. The Leafs continue their trek out west to finish off the month of October. Florida finished the week with a win in Chicago but began with two ugly losses in Ottawa and Pittsburgh. The Tkachuk Brother’s Traveling Circus made it’s first trip to Ottawa in Brady’s highly anticipated return. Brady scored a power-play goal midway through the first period but Ottawa scored the last five goals much to the elation of the home fans who had some not-so-nice things to say in the Sens’ 5-1 win. The Panthers looked even worse 24 hours later in Pittsburgh and were shutout 4-0 by the Penguins. Lars Eller would score with under three minutes left in Chicago in their next game as the Panthers came away with a 3-2 victory yesterday afternoon. Florida wraps up a road trip in Winnipeg tomorrow and will finish a rare home-and-home season series against the Jets on Friday after Winnipeg plays in Tampa on Thursday. Montreal’s Iron Man and Captain Nick Suzuki was injured early in the week for the Habs as the Sharks took down the Canadiens in a 4-3 overtime loss. Suzuki isn’t expected to be out long term and is expected to be out 2-4 weeks. Suzuki’s 546 consecutive games played streak ended in Montreal’s 4-1 win in Chicago before the Canadiens and Jets played outdoors in the 2026 Heritage Classic. Montreal would come away with the 2-1 victory in front of over 30,000 fans at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg. Montreal continues their road trip this week in St. Louis and Dallas before returning home to end October against Pittsburgh at the Bell Centre. Detroit is still hanging around at the bottom of the Atlantic this week but had a respectable 1-1-1 record. The Wings extended their point streak to 6 games (3-0-3) as they began the week out west in a 4-3 shootout loss in Seattle followed by a 5-2 win in Vancouver. That points streak ended in Calgary on Saturday with a 4-1 loss to the Flames. Detroit finishes a trip out west in Edmonton tonight and head home to finish October with two home games against Chicago and St. Louis. The Sabres fell to last place in the Atlantic this week after losing both games they played starting at home on Wednesday night against Philadelphia with a 3-1 loss then lost again 4-3 in overtime in Washington D.C. against former Sabre Alex Tuch who scored two goals for the Capitals, including the dagger 3:42 into overtime. Buffalo continues a long road trip this week in California and are looking to find the same spark they lit last year but are still hanging around to wrap up this week in the bottom of the Atlantic. Thanks for stopping by again this week and be sure to check back next Monday for the newest rendition of The Atlantic Current.