The Colorado Avalanche have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season. 

Brandon Hagel broke a third-period deadlock with his 20th goal of the season, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to their eighth straight win in a 4–2 triumph over the Avalanche on Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves.

Parker Kelly and Brock Nelson scored for Colorado. The Avalanche had just three regulation losses on the season entering Tuesday. Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots.

First Period

Tampa Bay’s Darren Raddysh was sent off just under four minutes in for holding Nathan MacKinnon at the top of the crease, giving Colorado an early power-play opportunity. The Avalanche generated quality looks, highlighted by a heavy one-timer from Cale Makar, but Andrei Vasilevskiy stood firm, turning aside every chance to keep the game scoreless.

Late in the period, Colorado gave up a goal with 12 seconds remaining on a penalty kill. Off the ensuing faceoff, a quick exchange pulled Sam Malinski toward Nikita Kucherov, opening space on the weak side. Jake Guentzel slipped into the void, gathered the puck below the dots, and walked it above the goal line before finishing with just 12 seconds remaining to give Tampa Bay a 1–0 lead.

Second Period

The second period finally revealed a spark from the Avalanche. Zakhar Bardakov jump-started the response with a poised centering feed into the crease that Parker Kelly finished cleanly to level the score early in the frame.

The momentum carried later in the period, immediately after Colorado’s penalty kill—necessitated by a Bardakov slashing minor—expired. Cale Makar burst up ice in transition and spotted Brock Nelson joining the rush, threading a pass that Nelson nudged past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Colorado a one-goal lead.

It would prove to be the Avalanche’s final goal of the night.

Puck management unraveled throughout the night, and even Colorado’s most reliable defenders weren’t immune. An uncharacteristic breakdown from Cale Makar opened the door for Zemgus Girgensons at the top of the crease, where he made no mistake, knotting the game as it headed into the final period

Third Period

Brandon Hagel put Tampa Bay back in front early in the third period, converting on a quick release that flat out beat Scott Wedgewood clean to give the Lightning the lead. Anthony Cirelli later sealed the outcome with an empty-net goal, cementing a 4–2 Tampa Bay victory.

Takeaways

The Avalanche have been careless with the puck in previous affairs this season, but tonight was one of those rare games where they’ve been forced to pay the price. This road trip was not so much fun. It’ll be nice to come home for a bit. Hopefully we see more from our top guys. The depth made their contribution, but we need the first line to contribute some more. It’s been a tough few games.

Next Game

The Avalanche (31-4-7) take on Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators (20-16-5) at Ball Arena on Thursday. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. local time. 

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Duclair recorded a hat trick for the first time in more than six years, Ilya Sorokin stopped all 45 shots he faced in his return from injury and the New York Islanders handed the New Jersey Devils a second consecutive defeat, routing them 9-0 on Tuesday night.

Back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past two games, Duclair scored three goals in a row during a stretch from 4:01 into the first period to 3:29 into the second and also had two assists for a five-point game. His fourth hat trick in the NHL was his first since Dec. 14, 2019, four teams ago when he was with the Ottawa Senators.

Sorokin was exceptional, showing no rust in his first game action since Dec. 19 as he became the franchise’s career shutout leader with his 26th. He had been out with what the Islanders called a nagging lower-body injury.

At the other end of the rink, Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom allowed goals on the first two shots he faced — from Mat Barzal and Duclair — and three on five, finishing with nine on 24. His teammates had little bounce back after losing at home to Carolina on Sunday in a game in which young defenseman Luke Hughes twice put the puck into his own net.

New Jersey has lost six of its past eight games. The Islanders have won two in a row and five of seven to keep pace with the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes.

No. 1 pick and rookie of the year frontrunner Matthew Schaefer has points in four consecutive games. Schaefer, still playing sick after scoring the overtime winner Saturday night while battling the flu, had an assist on Barzal’s goal 62 seconds in.

Simon Holmstrom, Casey Cizikas, Tony DeAngelo and Cal Ritchie also scored for New York.

Up next

Devils: Visit Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Islanders: Begin a seven-game road trip Thursday night at Nashville.

The Florida Panthers began a season-long six-game road trip on Tuesday night in Toronto.

Florida fell behind and never recovered, losing to the Leafs 3-1 at Scotiabank Arena.

A tightly contested first period nearly ended without a goal, until a broken Panthers stick was the catalyst on a play that led to Toronto opening the scoring.

After A.J. Greer’s stick busted on a one-time attempt, the puck found its way down the ice and into Florida’s zone, where a pretty passing play was punctuated by Easton Cowan’s fifth goal of the season that came with just 24 seconds left in the opening period.

Toronto quickly made it 2-0 during the first minute of period two thanks to a nice deflection by Matthew Knies at the 42-second mark.

Just over four minutes later, Knies made a great play again, this time driving to Florida’s net with the puck before spinning around and firing a blind pass to the slot.

That’s where Auston Matthews was waiting, and his quick one-timer past an out of position Sergei Bobrovsky made it 3-0 Leafs early in the middle frame.

When Florida took the ice for the third period, they were without Brad Marchand, who did not finish the game.

With 8:22 to go, Carter Verhaeghe scored a goal from below the goal line to get the Cats on the board.

It was his 150th goal as a member of the Panthers in his 400th game with the team.

That would be as close as Florida would get, and a Bobby McMann empty-net goal in the final seconds made it that much more fun of a night for the home fans in Toronto.

On to Montreal.

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Photo caption: Jan 6, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates scoring a goal against the Florida Panthers during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. (Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)