![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Andrei-Vasilevsky.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Photo: Hector Urcia | Inside The Rink<\/p>\n
The Vancouver Canucks visit the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday, October 17, 2026, with puck drop set for 4:00\u202fPM EDT.<\/p>\n
Matchup: Vancouver Canucks (2-6-1, 5 points in 2026-27) at Tampa Bay Lightning (5-2-0, 10 points in 2026-27)<\/p>\n
Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026<\/p>\n
Puck drop: 4:00\u202fPM EDT<\/p>\n
Venue: Benchmark International Arena<\/p>\n
How to watch: TBL: SNP, The Spot<\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks News & Notes<\/p>\n
Vancouver reshaped the bottom of its forward group this week. Aatu R\u00e4ty was placed on waivers and cleared, with the club assigning him to AHL Abbotsford, before the Canucks sent him to Toronto in a trade that brought back forwards Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr. The waiver decision drew scrutiny locally in the days before the deal was completed. Quillan and Buhr join an organization that has leaned on internal depth through the opening stretch of the schedule. <\/p>\n
Filip Chytil was set to make his season debut after recovering from a shoulder injury, adding a body down the middle. Head coach Manny Malhotra addressed his decision to make Jamie Oleksiak a healthy scratch against the Rangers. Early-season defensive issues surfaced in the October 1 meeting with Edmonton, when Vancouver trailed 4-0 after a first period in which it managed two shots, then pushed back with two Marco Rossi goals and a pair of points from Elias Pettersson. <\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning News & Notes<\/p>\n
Victor Hedman scored in overtime as the Lightning recovered to beat Seattle on Oct. 15, a result that followed another loss to the Rangers. The blue line has been reshuffled early: Emil Lilleberg\u2019s injury opened the door for Max Crozier to make his regular-season debut, and John Carlson arrived over the summer on a two-year contract. In goal, Tampa Bay recalled Mads Sogaard from AHL Syracuse earlier this week. <\/p>\n
The broader context is a roster working against the calendar and the cap. Nikita Kucherov is 33, Hedman is 35 and Andrei Vasilevskiy is 32, with Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point forming the next wave. Tampa Bay carries roughly $1.9 million in space, which limits in-season additions and has fueled speculation about moving a signed asset such as Anthony Cirelli to upgrade the top six and power play. <\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines<\/p>\n
Line 1: Jake DeBrusk \u2013 Elias Pettersson \u2013 Jonathan Lekkerimaki<\/p>\n
Line 2: Liam Ohgren \u2013 Marco Rossi \u2013 Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n
Line 3: Paul Cotter \u2013 Filip Chytil \u2013 Brock Boeser<\/p>\n
Line 4: Drew O\u2019Connor \u2013 Max Sasson \u2013 Brendan Gallagher<\/p>\n
Pair 1: Elias Nils Pettersson \u2013 Filip Hronek<\/p>\n
Pair 2: Jamie Oleksiak \u2013 Tom Willander<\/p>\n
Pair 3: Zeev Buium \u2013 Victor Mancini<\/p>\n
Goaltenders: Leevi Merilainen \u2013 Kevin Lankinen<\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks Special Teams<\/p>\n
Power play, First unit: Jake DeBrusk \u2013 Elias Pettersson \u2013 Brock Boeser \u2013 Jonathan Lekkerimaki \u2013 Filip Hronek<\/p>\n
Power play, Second unit: Liam Ohgren \u2013 Marco Rossi \u2013 Linus Karlsson \u2013 Filip Chytil \u2013 Zeev Buium<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, First unit: Elias Pettersson \u2013 Drew O\u2019Connor \u2013 Jamie Oleksiak \u2013 Filip Hronek<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, Second unit: Max Sasson \u2013 Paul Cotter \u2013 Elias Nils Pettersson \u2013 Victor Mancini<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines<\/p>\n
Line 1: Brandon Hagel \u2013 Anthony Cirelli \u2013 Nikita Kucherov<\/p>\n
Line 2: Jake Guentzel \u2013 Brayden Point \u2013 Gage Goncalves<\/p>\n
Line 3: Pontus Holmberg \u2013 Zemgus Girgensons \u2013 Ilya Mikheyev<\/p>\n
Line 4: Jeffrey Viel \u2013 Dominic James \u2013 Conor Geekie<\/p>\n
Pair 1: J.J. Moser \u2013 John Carlson<\/p>\n
Pair 2: Ryan McDonagh \u2013 Erik Cernak<\/p>\n
Pair 3: Victor Hedman \u2013 Maxwell Crozier<\/p>\n
Goaltenders: Andrei Vasilevskiy \u2013 Dennis Hildeby<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning Special Teams<\/p>\n
Power play, First unit: Jake Guentzel \u2013 Brayden Point \u2013 Nikita Kucherov \u2013 Brandon Hagel \u2013 John Carlson<\/p>\n
Power play, Second unit: Dominic James \u2013 Anthony Cirelli \u2013 Gage Goncalves \u2013 Conor Geekie \u2013 J.J. Moser<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, First unit: Anthony Cirelli \u2013 Brandon Hagel \u2013 Ryan McDonagh \u2013 Erik Cernak<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, Second unit: Zemgus Girgensons \u2013 Ilya Mikheyev \u2013 Victor Hedman \u2013 J.J. Moser<\/p>\n
Players To Watch<\/p>\n
The defenceman logged 22:35 and scored last time out on two shots. Box Score Junkie has him at 45.4% Corsi-for this season to date, so the territorial work is thin, but his three goals on 0.8 expected goals is a plus-2.2 finishing gap. Shot props stay live with that ice time.<\/p>\n
Nikita Kucherov \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n
Box Score Junkie\u2019s 2026-27 numbers make him Tampa\u2019s engine: 63.3% Corsi-for, 64.3% Fenwick and 76.4 shot attempts per 60 across 153 minutes, plus 4.1 high-danger expected goals with him on the ice. One goal on 1.6 expected says the finishing should correct upward soon.<\/p>\n
Injury Report<\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n
Jack Thompson (D) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Saturday, October 17<\/p>\n
Akil Thomas (C) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Thursday, October 22<\/p>\n
Mackenzie MacEachern (LW) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Sunday, October 25<\/p>\n
Thatcher Demko (G) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Hip, expected back Monday, December 21<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n
Yanni Gourde (C) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Hip, expected back Wednesday, December 2<\/p>\n
Next Up<\/p>\n
Vancouver Canucks: host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, October 20.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning: visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, October 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Hector Urcia | Inside The Rink The Vancouver Canucks visit the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[73000,243,397,27417,97,1332,2318,6713,5561,5,5236,1331,18756,281,189,3714,1486,13263,4,5573,1335,540,92,5168,5167,27,1498],"class_list":["post-689120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-2026-27-nhl-regular-season","tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","tag-anthony-cirelli","tag-benchmark-international-arena","tag-brandon-hagel","tag-brayden-point","tag-elias-pettersson","tag-emil-lilleberg","tag-filip-chytil","tag-hockey","tag-injury-report","tag-jake-guentzel","tag-jamie-oleksiak","tag-john-carlson","tag-lightning","tag-line-combinations","tag-marco-rossi","tag-max-crozier","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-game-preview","tag-nikita-kucherov","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-victor-hedman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}