The Tampa Bay Lightning got back in the win column on Thursday night, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in a shootout at AMALIE Arena to earn a season series split with their Western Conference opponent. Jake Guentzel scored the lone goal in the three-round shootout.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled and then offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups.

Jake Guentzel scored the only shootout goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning earned a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Lightning play the Anaheim Ducks in a non-conference matchup. Tampa Bay is 13-6-1 in home games and 23-16-3 overall. The Lightning have gone 5-6-2 in games decided by one goal. Anaheim is 9-10-3 in road games and 18-21-5 overall. The Ducks have conceded 137 goals while scoring 106 for a -31 scoring differential.

The Anaheim Ducks neared the end of their six-game road trip on Thursday with a matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Ducks were coming off of one of their poorest offensive performances of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday with a 3-0 loss to the Washington Capitals.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will kick off their two-game homestand with a cross-conference matchup against the Anaheim Ducks tonight at 7 p.m. The Bolts (23-16-3) are coming off a disheartening 6-2 loss to a key division rival in the Boston Bruins.

Although the Ducks beat the Lightning by three goals on Jan. 5, they have, more recently, been battered on their season-long road trip. The Ducks sandwiched the only win on a journey that began with two lopsided losses between a pair of shutouts by their opponents.

The Ducks road trip was primed as a "make or break" endeavor and they were thoroughly outplayed at nearly every turn. They went 1-4-1, were shutout three times, outscored by a total of 24-8, and outshot 206-155.

Anaheim Ducks (18-21-5, in the Pacific Division) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (23-16-3, in the Atlantic Division) BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Lightning play the Anaheim Ducks in a non-conference matchup.

The Anaheim Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightning faced off for the second time in two weeks last night when they battled for 65 minutes plus a shootout at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mason McTavish and Alex Killorn each scored twice and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Thursday night. Frank Vatrano also scored and Troy Terry and Jacob Trouba each had a pair of assists as the Ducks snapped a four-game winless streak. John Gibson made 31 saves.