With 14 games remaining in the regular season and the playoff race in full swing, the Tampa Bay Lightning are beginning to find their stride.
In the first game of a four-game road trip Tuesday night, the Bolts skated to a 5-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights behind another MVP performance from Nikita Kucherov and two goals from Brayden Point.
Entering the contest with a 15-16-2 record on the road, the Lightning fell into a 1-0 hole just 1:14 into the first period when Jonathan Marchessault lit the lamp for the 38th time this season to give Vegas the early lead.
But Tampa Bay didn’t blink and responded to the game-opening goal less than six minutes later with Anthony Cirelli netting his first shorthanded goal of the season.
Stealing the puck from Jack Eichel along the boards in the Lightning’s defensive zone, Cirelli burst past Shea Theodore and skated into the Vegas zone on a 2-on-0 with Brandon Hagel. Sending a pass to Hagel, Cirelli quickly saw a return feed come his way and fired a one-timer over the glove of Adin Hill to make it a 1-1 game with his 15th goal of the year.
A little over three minutes later, Anthony Duclair showcased why he has been one of the top trade deadline acquisitions across the entire NHL when he scored his 19th goal of the season to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead.
After Kucherov fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Hill, the All-Star winger jumped on his own rebound and sent a pass to the slot for Duclair. With the pass approaching Duclair in midair, the crafty forward swatted the puck into the back of the net to make it a 2-1 game.
Brett Howden scored the lone goal of the second period at the 16:52 mark to send the game to the third period in a 2-2 tie.
But just 4:52 into the final frame, Point lit the lamp on the power play to regain the one-goal lead for Tampa Bay. Following a rim around the boards from Steven Stamkos, Kucherov collected the puck on his backhand and fed a pass into the slot for Point, who was waiting to roof the puck over the glove of Hill and give the Lightning a 3-2 lead with 15:08 to go.
Less than four minutes later, the Golden Knights answered with a goal from Ben Hutton, who fired a shot through traffic from the high slot and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to even the score at three apiece.
Skating in a tie game during the third period of a very important game on the road, Tampa Bay grabbed the 4-3 lead with 7:46 remaining in regulation.
After Kucherov tried to find Point streaking through the neutral zone, the pass went just ahead of Point’s stick and made its way to the end boards in the Vegas defensive zone. Getting on his horse, Point won the race to the loose puck and quickly fired a shot on goal that got behind Hill to make it a 4-3 game with his second tally of the night.
As Vegas continued to push for another game-tying goal, Vasilevskiy stood tall between the pipes before Kucherov collected his fourth point of the night when he scored an empty-net goal to cap off the 5-3 win with 1:09 remaining in regulation.
Vasilevskiy finished the night with 24 saves on 27 shots against for his fourth-straight win as the Bolts improved to 37-25-6 on the season.
Bolts by the Numbers
Nikita Kucherov recorded his seventh four-point game of the season with one goal and three assists. Kucherov extended his assist streak to 11 games (5-19—24), matching the longest of his career set earlier this season Nov. 16-Dec. 6 (6-15—21). Kucherov has now recorded 39 career three-assist games, the fourth-most among all active NHL skaters behind Sidney Crosby (62), Connor McDavid (45) and Nicklas Backstrom (44). Kucherov joined Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis as the only players in Lightning franchise history to record 400 road points. Kucherov’s 28 career four-point games are the most in Bolts franchise history while Crosby (39), McDavid (37), Alex Ovechkin (32) and Evgeni Malkin (29) are the only active players with more. Kucherov (41-77—118) leads the NHL in points and needs one more goal to set a new career high for a single season.
Anthony Duclair scored one goal and tied Cory Conacher (4 GP in 2012-13) and Kevin Shattenkirk (4 GP in 2019-20) for the second- longest point streak to begin a career with the Lightning in franchise history. Duclair has five points over his first four games with the Bolts (3-2—5) and is up to 32 points on the season (19-13—32).
Brayden Point scored two goals, including the game-winning tally, for his seventh multi-goal game of the season. Point now has nine game-winning goals on the season, tied for the most among all NHL skaters. Point has lit the lamp in 10 of his last 14 contests (13-8—21).
Steven Stamkos picked up two assists to extend his point streak to a season-long six games (3-8—11). Stamkos recorded his 16th multi-point game of the year and is up to 62 points on the campaign (27-35—62).
Anthony Cirelli scored his 12th career shorthanded goal, the fourth-most in Lightning franchise history behind Vincent Lecavalier (13), Rob Zamuner (14) and Martin St. Louis (28). Cirelli has five points over his last seven games (3-2—5) and is up to 36 points on the season (15-21—36).
Brandon Hagel recorded one assist to push his season point total to 63 (23-40—63), one point shy of tying his career-high 64-point season set last year.
Bolts Quotes
Anthony Duclair on who or what has helped him most since being acquired by Tampa Bay: “Everybody. Starting with the coaching staff, obviously I'm trying to learn the system. Still getting used to the plays and stuff like that, get to know the guys and their tendencies out there. But obviously, you're playing with Kuch, Pointer, Stammer, the game's easier out there and it makes my life a lot easier. I'm very happy to be playing with them and just want to continue on doing that.”
Jon Cooper on Anthony Duclair: “He's a good player. It was a good add for us, he and Dumba. I'm ecstatic we have these guys. They've added to our depth and given us a little moxie. He's deserved those points. He's played well for us.”
Duclair: “The mood's great. Obviously very confident. Like I said before, we know how important these points are. All the teams, especially in the East, are playing pretty well right now. It's a tight race. This is a business trip for us. We're looking forward to the next one now.”
Cooper: “In the end, it was special teams tonight. We got the shorty and we got the power-play goal. If you win that battle, it gives you a chance to win the game, so special teams was big for us tonight.”
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Nikita Kucherov
- Brayden Point
- Steven Stamkos
Lightning Look Ahead
- Thursday, March 21 at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. ET, SAP Center
- Saturday, March 23 at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. ET, Crypto.com Arena
- Sunday, March 24 at Anaheim Ducks, 8:30 p.m. ET, Honda Center
