Brandon Hagel scores winner as Lightning beat Avalanche 4-2

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Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) stops a shot by Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson (11) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood (41) pushes the puck away from Tampa Bay Lightning center Dominic James (17) after a save during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) — Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) stops a shot by Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson (11) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Audio By Carbonatix

7:07 PM on Tuesday, January 6

By ERIK ERLENDSSON

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Hagel snapped a third-period tie with his 20th goal of the season to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to their eighth consecutive win with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Jake Guentzel and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli added an empty-netter. Nikita Kucherov recorded his seventh straight multipoint game with a pair of assists.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves for his sixth consecutive win.

Parker Kelly and Brock Nelson scored for Colorado, which has dropped consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season. The Avalanche had just three regulation losses on the season entering Tuesday.

Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots for Colorado.

Hagel scored the winning goal after Kucherov protected the puck near the left circle, found Max Crozier who cut down the slot before finding Hagel for a sweeping one-timer at 8:31 of the third period. Cirelli scored an empty-net goal with 1:25 left.

Guentzel put Tampa Bay up 1-0 coming out of the corner on the power play with space to get out front and find the top far corner with 12 seconds left in the opening period.

Colorado scored twice in six minutes to take the lead. Kelly found a loose puck in the paint at 3:22 before Nelson fired a shot from the left faceoff dot that deflected off the stick of Erik Cernak and knuckled past Vasilevskiy at 9:31.

Girgensons pulled the Lightning even again late in the second, getting inside position on Cale Makar on top of the crease and getting his stick down for Yanni Gourde to find for the redirect at 17:22.

Colorado played without captain Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Devon Toews, who both returned to Denver earlier in the day. Landeskog was injured after running into the net against Florida on Sunday and Toews was injured on Saturday against Carolina. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said both are expected to miss weeks.

Up next

Avalanche: Host Ottawa on Thursday.

Lightning: Visit Philadelphia on Saturday.

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