Nikita Kucherov pulled closer to franchise history and Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall on Tuesday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2.
Kucherov finished with three points—tying Steven Stamkos’ 1,137 career points for the franchise lead—while Vasilevskiy made 32 saves to help the Lightning open their three-game road trip in winning fashion at T-Mobile Arena.
Tampa Bay is now 7-2-0 this season, their latest win coming after the game was tied 2-2 through the first period.
“It’s incredible to watch him,” John Carlson said of Kucherov. “Practice, game, playing against him or playing with him, he’s an X-factor out there wherever he is and just someone that everyone should look up to.”
Vasilevskiy was strong early, halting a pair of dangerous Vegas rush chances before the game’s third minute. The Lightning then took advantage of their own chance for the game-opening goal.
Tampa Bay’s power play gave the visitors a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. Brandon Hagel’s seventh goal of the season came on a deflection of Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ shot from the top of the setup.
Despite the Lightning keeping the pressure with more scoring chances, a turnover in the defensive zone allowed Ivan Barbashev to tie the game on a rebound at the 13:16 mark.
Tampa Bay quickly reclaimed the lead on a rush goal from Carlson, but Vegas pulled even once again.
Carlson found a loose puck in the neutral zone during a Vegas line change, rushed to the top of the left circle and fired a shot up high on Carter Hart. The initial shot was saved, but Carlson beat the Golden Knights to the rebound and scored the 2-1 goal with six minutes left in the opening frame.
“Responses are enormous in this league,” Carlson said. “That’s a veteran team. I don’t think they’re getting scored on and sulking and gonna stop playing, but those are big momentum shifts to get it right back, get the crowd settled down a little bit again. And then it just builds us up a little bit, and that’s where you saw that surge.”
The Golden Knights answered with another tying goal, this time while shorthanded. Vegas denied a breakout attempt in the Lightning defensive zone, and the puck rolled to Braeden Bowman at the right wall. He fed an open Mark Stone in the left circle, where the latter snuck his open shot through Vasilevskiy in the closing minutes of the period to make it 2-2.
Cirelli then took over in the second period with a pair of goals.
His first of the night stood as the game-winner—Kucherov raced to the puck in the left corner and fed it to an uncovered Cirelli at the net 6:44 into the period.
Cirelli doubled the lead with his 150th career goal midway through the frame, this time accepting a Vegas turnover at the left hashmark before firing the puck off the crossbar and in to make it 4-2.
“I think we were opportunistic,” Carlson said…”We found that third one and fourth one. Those are big plays to be made, and I think we did well enough to handle the rest of it.”
Captain Victor Hedman scored the 5-2 goal with a seeing-eye shot from the left point with 2:04 left in the middle frame, and Kucherov capped the night with a shot on a breakaway, beating Hart up high for the 6-2 goal.
The goal was Kucherov’s 1,137th career point, tying Stamkos for the most points in Lightning history. He now sits one point shy of taking sole possession of the franchise mark.
“His work ethic, his dedication to the game and his dedication to perfection has always been there,” Hedman said of Kucherov. “I’ve seen him the past five, six years and the way he works and tries to improve. The way he sees the game is fun to watch.”
Vasilevskiy remained critical throughout Tuesday’s win, denying multiple Vegas looks off the rush as Vegas tried to tie the game. He kept the hosts off the scoreboard over the final 40 minutes despite the Lightning being outshot 34 to 21 in the game.
His 32 saves were a season high.
“We needed him early,” coach Jon Cooper said of Vasilevskiy. “We’ve been pretty good with not giving up the odd-man rushes, and sure enough to a team that really can capitalize on that, we were careless with the puck. So give Vasy some credit there, and eventually the boys started putting some pucks in the net.”
Tampa Bay’s road trip continues with a weekend back to back, beginning on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Nikita Kucherov, TBL (Goal, 2 assists)
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (32-save win)
- Anthony Cirelli, TBL (2 goals)
