Defenseman Darren Raddysh leads Lightning past Jets

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Jan 29, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning won for the 16th time in their last 18 games Thursday night at Benchmark International Arena and dodged a potentially huge loss.

They had plenty to celebrate from their 4-1 win over the Jets, but the arena fell silent when leading scorer Nikita Kucherov fell to the ice following a scary collision with 6-foot-7 Winnipeg defenseman Logan Stanley in the first period.

From the initial looks, it appeared serious.

Kucherov took the brunt of the hit on his right side, colliding with Stanley while looking to his left as he skated in the offensive zone. He fell to the ice and stayed there for several moments before getting to his feet under his own power and skating off hunched over and holding his right arm before going down the tunnel.

Kucherov, who entered Thursday’s game third in the NHL in points (80) — trailing only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (92) and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (88) — missed the last 9:13 of the first period (after skating just three shifts) but returned to start the second. He had the primary assist on the Lightning’s third goal of the night and scored the fourth into an empty net.

Breakout Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh had a goal and two assists, giving him 44 points and a plus-21 rating over his last 35 games. Raddysh’s 15 goals tie him with reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar for third among NHL defensemen.

Raddysh set up Dominic James on the rush to open the scoring with 5:02 left in the first period. Raddysh took a stretch pass from J.J. Moser off the left wall at the blue line and pushed the puck to James, who had sped past the Winnipeg defense. James wristed a shot from near the left hash past reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.

Raddysh then rifled a 98.9-mph slap shot from the point through traffic, off the top of Hellebuyck’s right pad and into the back of the net, to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead 1:37 into the second period.

After Kyle Connor cut the lead to one with 7:35 left in the second, Kucherov faked a slap shot from the right circle and then tapped a pass to Yanni Gourde in front that Gourde redirected past Hellebuyck to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead with 4:43 left in the period.

Thursday marked defenseman Ryan McDonagh’s return to the lineup after missing 33 of the previous 36 games after suffering a leg injury from a blocked shot.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced.