Saturday, October 18, 2025 – 7:00 PM ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 93.3 FM
Tampa Bay Lightning (1-2-2, 4 points, 7th Atlantic, 12th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (1-3-0, 2 points, 7th Atlantic, 14th East)
Player to Watch
Adam Fantilli
The third year center has just one goal and one assist so far in this young season. Tonight he will be playing with his third different starting line combination of the season, but fortunately this is the line we saw late last season and one that we were all begging to see again: Boone Jenner to his left and Kent Johnson to his right. Boone can bring the defense and the netfront presence, while KJ can be the playmaker that will unleash Fantilli’s offense.
Jackets Notes
Erik Gudbranson and Miles Wood remain out … Jet Greaves starts in goal, continuing the steady goalie rotation … Denton Mateychuk moves up to the top defensive pairing with Zach Werenski. That is a fast pairing! … The Jackets are honoring the inaugural 2000-01 team tonight, represented by head coach Dave King, goaltender (and presidential candidate) Ron Tugnutt, forward Kevin Dineen, and defensemen Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and Rostislav “Rusty” Klesla.
The Other Bench
Not an ideal start for the Bolts, with just one win on the season and an OT loss in Detroit last night … Nikita Kucherov missed yesterday’s game with illness and was not on the ice this morning.
Season Series
10/18/25 TBL @ CBJ
01/24/25 TBL @ CBJ
03/10/2026 CBJ @ TBL
Stats
| Tampa Bay | Columbus | |
| 2.80 (20) | GPG | 2.75 (24) |
| 3.60 (23) | GAPG | 3.25 (19) |
| 23.1 (9) | PP% | 9.1 (31) |
| 89.5 (10) | PK% | 53.3 (32) |
| 47.6 (24) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 46.5 (27) |
| 46.4 (26) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 45.5 (28) |
| 10.3 (13) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.0 (18) |
| 90.9 (13) | 5v5 Save % | 96.5 (3) |
| N. Kucherov, Y. Gourde, B. Point, A. Cirelli (2) | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko (4) |
| V. Hedman, J. Guentzel (4) | A Leader | B. Jenner, Z. Werenski, D. Voronkov, I. Provorov (2) |
| J. Guentzel, B. Point (5) | P Leader | Kirill Marchenko (5) |
| Emil Lilleberg (13) | PIM Leader | Dmitri Voronkov (6) |
| 1-0-2 | Home/Road | 0-2-0 |
| 1-2-2 | Last 10 | 1-3-0 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dmitri Voronkov | Sean Monahan | Kirill Marchenko |
| Boone Jenner | Adam Fantilli | Kent Johnson |
| Cole Sillinger | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Zach Aston-Reese | Isac Lundestrom | Yegor Chinakhov |
| Zach Werenski | Denton Mateychuk |
| Ivan Provorov | Damon Severson |
| Jake Christiansen | Dante Fabbro |
| Jet Greaves |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Tampa Bay Lightning
| Jake Guentzel | Brayden Point | Brandon Hagel |
| Conor Geekie | Anthony Cirelli | Gage Goncalves |
| Pontus Holmberg | Yanni Gourde | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| Mitchell Chaffee | Jack Finley | Curtis Douglas |
| Victor Hedman | J.J. Moser |
| Ryan McDonagh | Erik Cernak |
| Emil Lilleberg | Darren Raddysh |
| Jonas Johansson |
| Andrei Vasilevyskiy |