Lightning Continue Winning Ways with Strong Thanksgiving Eve Performance over Calgary
- Mike Smith
- Nov 26, 2025
- 3 min read
By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports
The Tampa Bay Lightning started strong and defeated the Calgary Flames at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday night, 5-1. Brandon Hagel scored 39 seconds into the game, and Charle-Edouard D'Astous added a quick second goal only 47 seconds later.
Hagel's opening goal was the fastest of the season when Andrei Vasilevskiy made a quick save that Anthony Cirelli collected. Cirelli got the puck to Nikita Kuchrov, who then got the pass back to Cirelli. Cirelli, drawing two Flames defensemen, found Hagel open in the left faceoff circle for the shot to the back of the net.
Moments later, Jake Guentzel connected with Nick Paul across the ice for a nice pass through the Calgary slot. Paul then found D'Astous at the blue line for a slap shot through traffic out front that went past Flames goalie Dustin Wolf.
Zemgus Girgensons scored at the 5:52 mark of the period when Pontus Holmberg collected an errant Calgary pass in the Lightning defensive zone. Holmberg got the pass out of the zone to Yanni Gourde and into the Calgary zone. Gourde fed the puck to Girgenson, and his wrist shot deflected off of Kevin Bahl's stick and into the goal.
The goal was the 200th point of Girgenson's NHL career.
West's night ended at that point, yielding three goals on four shots. Devin Cooley would come in to complete the game for the Flames.
Lightning Continue to Press Offensively
Cooley's luck did not improve at first, as Declan Carlile scored his first goal of the season halfway through the opening period. Guentzel won the puck in the Flame's corner and got the puck up to Steven Santini. Santini passed over to Carlile in the left circle, and Carlile snapped it past Cooley.
Kucherov would finish the Thanksgiving Eve night scoring for the Bolts at 14:23 of the third period when he and Hagel double-passed to each other in the slot to force Cooley to commit to one side. Hagel made the final pass to Cooley's weak side, and Kucherov knocked the puck in over the outstretched pads of the Flames' netminder.
Calgary's lone goal would come at the 1:04 mark of the third period when Joel Farabee scored a shorthanded goal on Vasilevskiy.
Bolts Streak to Maintain Top Spot in Atlantic Division
Vasilevskiy would stop 32 of 33 shots to pick up his 10th win of the season. The Russian phenom is on a five-game winning streak, and 8-2-0 in his last 10 games.
After an abysmal 1-4-2 start, the win tonight gives Tampa Bay an Atlantic Division-leading 30 points. Currently on a five-game winning streak, the team finds itself only one point out of contention with New Jersey for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
As the Bolts embark on a pivotal three-game road trip over the holiday weekend, head coach Jon Cooper summed up the night in one statement:
"I loved our start. I love that we were filling the net," Cooper said. "We were doing all the right things. We played with a purpose. I hated all the penalties we took, but I thought our penalty kill was outstanding."
"It's another solid victory for us at home, and we'll see if we can do this on the road."
Three Stars of the Game
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay. Another great game in net as The Big Cat records his 10th win of the season.
Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay. A goal and an assist to lead the charge.
Declan Carlile, Tampa Bay. He scored his first goal of the season and was a +2 on the ice.
Up Next
The Tampa Bay Lightning take off after the Thanksgiving holiday for a three-game road trip. The road trip begins with a Black Friday matinee against the Red Wings in Detroit. Game time is at 12 pm.
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