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.

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.

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 Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that defenseman Erik Cernak will not return to the club's contest against the Anaheim Ducks. View the original article to see embedded media. The Lightning did not specify Cernak's specific injury,

Here are three reasons to like the Lightning’s new-look power play. Thursday’s moves were transformative, because the personnel and positional changes made it difficult to tell which was the top unit and which was the second. Point men Victor Hedman and Darren Raddysh switched units, with Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel matched with Raddysh.

The Anaheim Ducks and the host Florida Panthers, who are set to meet on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla., both lost on Thursday.

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.

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.

Robby Fabbri, Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson score for the Ducks, who fall to 1-3-1 on their six-game trip when Guentzel scores the only goal for either team in the shootout to hand them a 4-3 defeat.

The Ducks fought back in the third period to earn a point, but fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at Amalie Arena. NHL GAMECENTER | DUCKS STREAM The loss dropped Anaheim to 18-2

While the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to move up the Eastern Conference standings, their captain Victor Hedman keeps checking off milestones.