The Vancouver Canucks (8-9-2) face the Tampa Bay Lightning (9-6-2) on November 16, 2025, at 5 p.m. ET. This game marks the first of two meetings this season between the teams. Both sides enter with several key injuries affecting their lineups.
The Canucks travel to Tampa Bay for a matchup that highlights ongoing challenges for both teams. Vancouver holds a 21-20-2-2 all-time record against the Lightning, but has struggled recently, going 1-9-0 in their last 10 games and 1-4-0 in the last five. Evander Kane leads active Canucks skaters with 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) in 38 career games against Tampa Bay, while Brock Boeser has 10 points (7-3) in 13 games and Elias Pettersson has six points (3-3) in 10.
Projected lineups for Vancouver include Evander Kane centering Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland on the top line, with Brock Boeser, Lukas Reichel, and Kiefer Sherwood on the second. The third line features Drew O'Connor, Aatu Raty, and Jake DeBrusk, followed by Mackenzie MacEachern, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson. Defense pairs are Elias Nils Pettersson with Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson with Tyler Myers, and P.O Joseph with Tom Willander. Kevin Lankinen starts in net, backed by Jiri Patera. Scratches include Arshdeep Bains, Victor Mancini, and David Kampf, who recently signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract and could debut Monday against Florida.
Injuries plague the Canucks: Quinn Hughes (upper body) is a game-time decision, Thatcher Demko (lower body) is week-to-week on IR, Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), and Derek Forbort (undisclosed) are out. Mancini was activated off IR Friday.
For Tampa Bay, the top line projects Jake Guentzel with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Other forwards include Gage Goncalves, Yanni Gourde, Jakob Pelletier; Zemgus Girgensons, Jack Finley, Oliver Bjorkstrand; and Boris Katchouk, Curtis Douglas, Scott Sabourin. Defense: J.J. Moser with Max Crozier, Charle-Edouard D'Astous with Erik Cernak, and Emil Lilleberg with Darren Raddysh. Goalies are Jonas Johansson and Andrei Vasilevskiy, with no scratches. Injured Lightning players include Brandon Hagel (upper body), Nick Paul (upper body, expected back Tuesday vs. New Jersey), Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed), Pontus Holmberg (undisclosed), Dominic James (undisclosed), Victor Hedman (undisclosed), and Anthony Cirell (upper body).
The last meeting on December 8, 2024, saw Tampa Bay win 4-2. Vancouver's most recent game was a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina on November 14.