^{Utah’s brings the new longest point streak in the NHL to the home of the team that just lost it.}

The Utah Mammoth, having successfully taken 2 points from a surging Nashville team, left the frozen wastes of Tennessee for the balmy and not under multiple feet of snow Florida. Tonight, Utah battles the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game of a back-to-back that takes them to see the Florida Panthers tomorrow.

The Lightning and Mammoth have identical records so far in January – 9-1-1 for 19 of a possible 22 points. These two teams have the highest point percentages in the NHL in the 2026 calendar year.

The Lightning come into the game having lost the league’s longest point streak, 10 games, to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Looking to start a new point streak, Tampa Bay offers a significant challenge to Team Tusk tonight.

What’s powering the Lightning’s successful 2026?
Remember how I said the Lightning and Mammoth have identical records so far? It’s more than that, actually – the Lightning and Mammoth have nearly identical goals for and goals against in 11 games. Tampa Bay has lit the lamp 45 times in 11 contests, Utah 44. Both teams have had stellar goaltending as well, with both teams giving up just 25 goals; this is tied for second best goals against averages in the NHL in January, just below the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Lightning, like the Mammoth, are putting up a good amount of shots against their opponents on this run; both teams are averaging about 27 and a half shots per game. The Lightning, however, have relied on a different defensive structure than the Mammoth – they are shot suppressing far more, giving up 4 fewer shots per game on average (23.4 shots against per game, vs. 27.2 for Utah). However, They are relying on starter Andrei Vasilevskiy nearly as much as the Mammoth are relying on Karel Vejmelka, though Tampa’s netminder has much better overall stats, and has been killing it for the Lightning.

Removing their last game against Columbus – a back to back – and focusing on games that Vasilevskiy has started, the Lightning are doubling up on opponents, scoring 35-16 in that time. Vasilevskiy has rocked a Vezina caliber .930 save percentage and just a 1.58 goals against average. He’s obviously a big part of the Lightning success – as he’s been during and since their Cup runs.

The Lightning success isn’t just goaltending, since Vasilevskiy isn’t scoring for the team. Instead, that’s been mostly up to Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov has not only been an absolute unit for the Lightning, he’s actually the league’s leading scorer in 2026. That’s right, in 11 games, Kucherov has more points than Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, and Macklin Celebrini. And it’s not that he has more points than they do; Kucherov is averaging nearly 2.5 points per game over his last 11. 8 goals, 19 assists, and 27 points, he’s 6 points above the second player on the list (Mark Stone, 21 points) and Stone has played in 2 more games.

On the top line, Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli, and Brandon Hagel have accounted for +31 net rating, with 18, 12, and 13 points respectively at even strength.

The Lightning aren’t invincible, however. They just lost Brayden Point to IR, and are missing two of their top defensemen to LTIR as well. However, Tampa’s success has been done without Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh – a scary thought for when those two come back…

Key points to secure a victory today:
Yamkos The first line that included Kailer Yamamoto saw the journeyman turn in a 2 point performance, the best he’s had as a member of Utah. Overall, his contributions were huge, filling in on a first line missing Lawson Crouse. The first line contributed 2 goals and an assist, with the line going +6 for the night.

With Lawson Crouse expected to return today, it puts Yamamoto in limbo yet again. However, against the Lightning and Vasilevskiy, scoring will be at a premium. Yamamoto scored in his last outing against Tampa Bay, back in a terrible November, in a 4-2 loss against the Lightning.

With the Lightning suppressing shots, Yamamoto’s scoring touch could be a significant boost. The Mammoth are likely facing the first team to keep them under 3 goals against since a potential 1st round match-up preview against the Dallas Stars. Yamamoto’s nearly team leading 22% shooting percentage so far could tip the scales, especially if Tampa keeps Utah shot volume low.

Kucher-off Nearly all of the Lightning’s offense flows through one conduit – Nikita Kucherov. I mentioned above how much he’s contributed points-wise for the month, but that doesn’t even get to the scary part. Kucherov has been crushing it for the Lightning, contributing to, or directly responsible for, more than half the team’s points in January. No other player’s performance is remotely close.

It’s not a surprise, then, that the one scare the Lightning had to their streak recently was against Pittsburgh in a 2-1 shootout win. Naturally, he had the shootout winner…

Kucherov is a tall ask for anyone to defend, but the line matchups that Utah will want to focus on is getting the top line of Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and (presumably) Lawson Crouse to face off against that line. With Nick Schmaltz’ emergence as a 2 way center, with solid defensive responsibility, having a like keep Kucherov’s line in check – as much as that’s possible – will be key.

Vasil-net-skiy Andrei Vasilevskiy backstopped the Tampa Bay Lightning to 2 Stanley Cups, with other deep runs on their roster. He does this because he doesn’t have bad games. Even his bad games aren’t problems for the team.

The strength of the Lightning isn’t just in Kucherov’s ability to burn out red lights, it’s Vasilevskiy keeping his off. The last game that Vasilevskiy gave up 3 goals? The Lightning won anyway. Vasilevskiy is 11-0-1, with the loss from a shootout in a 3-2 game against St. Louis a week and a half ago.

Since being pulled against the Rangers on November 12th, where he gave up 5 goals on 13 shots, Vasilevskiy has given up more than 3 goals one time – 4 goals against the Carolina Hurricanes right around Christmas. In the 20 games after his Rangers debacle, Vasilevskiy has posted a .932 save percent and just 1.68.

Not only does Team Tusk need to find a way to shut down Kucherov, they need a way to solve Vasilevskiy. That’s a tall ask, so hopefully the boys are ready to play the best game of the year tonight.

Projected Lineups:
(edited) Just saw the lineup, and it has O’Brien in for Yamamoto. That’s a massive mistake, as seen why above, but if the NHL is to be believed…

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Daniil But
Michael Carcone — Jack McBain — Dylan Guenther
Brandon Tanev — Kevin Stenlund — Liam O’Brien

Mikhail Sergachev — Sean Durzi
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Nick DeSimone

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Game time 5PM; game available on Utah 16 and SEG+

TUSKS UP!