Raddysh, Gourde each has goal, 2 assists in Lightning victory against Jets

TAMPA -- Darren Raddysh and Yanni Gourde each had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Zemgus Girgensons had two assists for the Lightning (34-14-4), who are 16-1-1 in their past 18 games and have won seven straight at home. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

"We need to do this just to compete in [the Atlantic] Division," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "I don't think I've ever seen our division this tight, actually any division as tight as the Atlantic has been with so many teams competing for a playoff spot."

It was the final game for the Lightning before they host the Boston Bruins in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS). The game will coincide with Gasparilla Pirate Fest weekend here.

"It's going to be great, it's going to be great for this city, especially with the celebration of Gasparilla. Once a year it's our mini Mardi Gras," Cooper said. "It's so much fun and to be capped out with an outdoor game that quite frankly I think is going to be magical."

Kyle Connor scored for the Jets (21-25-7), who have lost three of four (1-2-1). Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves.

"I thought early on we were able to advance the puck and create some chances," Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry said. "In the second period I think we started feeding into that transition game. They do a great job of stretching guys out. ... We kind of fed into that. It's just management. It's frustrating because I thought we had been playing a decent hockey game."

Dominic James gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 14:58 of the first period with a shot from the left circle after Raddysh sent him in following a stretch pass by J.J. Moser.

Raddysh extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:37 of the second period with a low slap shot from just inside the blue line, scoring for the third straight game.

"I think we got away from what we wanted to in the second period a little bit,” Raddysh said, “but we did what we wanted in the third and played in their end and shut them down a little bit to keep momentum on our side. Guys are buying in. They know what the job is and everyone is pulling their weight."

Connor made it 2-1 at 12:25, scoring in the left face-off circle on a short-side tip of Dylan Samberg’s shot with Gabriel Vilardi providing the screen.

"You look at our goal, we got traffic in front of Vasilevskiy with a high tip and he didn’t see it, and that has to be a constant," Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. "It was too far between when we did that. We had to do it on a consistent basis."

Gourde pushed the Lightning lead to 3-1 at 15:17. He scored from between the circles by redirecting a quick centering pass from Kucherov.

Kucherov then scored an empty-net goal at 18:52 of the third period for the 4-1 final. He has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in a seven-game point streak.

"I think structurally we've been really good and we just know that we don't need to force anything in the third period when we have the lead," Gourde said. "We play our game and put the puck deep. And we try to grind out a few shifts in the O-zone to help us keep momentum and prevent them from creating offense."

NOTES: Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh had three shots on goal and three blocked shots in 20:35 of ice time in his first game since Dec. 22. He missed 15 games with a lower-body injury. ... Raddysh had his sixth three-point game of the season. ... Vasilevskiy extended his point streak to 14 games (13-0-1) and tied the second-longest of his career (14 games in 2017-18). He had a 21-game point streak in 2019-20, the longest run in Tampa Bay history.