Kucherov reaches 1,000 NHL points, Lightning recover to top Ducks

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov reached 1,000 NHL points, finishing with two assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.

Kucherov became the 101st NHL player to achieve the milestone and joined Steven Stamkos as the only players in Lightning history to get 1,000 points. He is the third-fastest active player to hit the mark (809 games), behind Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (659) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (757).

"It was a great feeling. It's something I never thought I would reach," Kucherov said. "I'm really honored and fortunate to have great teammates along the way. Without them I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't have done that. The fan support has been a huge part of it and I'm just real blessed."

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Kucherov will have a special place in franchise history.

"It's been a privilege to stand on the bench to watch him get a thousand," Cooper said. "It seems like just yesterday he was [starting] in the League. He's a special, special player and he's going to go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest player, to play in this organization. He's got a lot of runway left in him."

Anthony Cirelli had two goals and an assist, and Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Lightning (2-4-2), who had lost four in a row and were 0-3-0 at home. Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel each had two assists, and Jonas Johansson made 37 saves.

Troy Terry had a goal and an assist for the Ducks (4-3-1), who were 2-0-1 in their past three games. Lukas Dostal made 29 saves.

Cirelli made it 4-3 on the power play at 16:45 of the third period. He scored with a wrist shot from the left hash marks off a pass from Kucherov.

"It was huge with four minutes left in the game. We had some looks too, they just weren't going in," Cirelli said. "But that was a big one. ‘Kuch’ did what he does best with the pass there and I'm lucky it went in."

Anaheim had tied the game in the third with two goals in 59 seconds.

Ryan Poehling made it 3-2 at 7:11 when he finished off a 2-on-1 by tapping the puck past Johansson off a pass from Ross Johnston.

Terry then tied it at 3-3 at 8:10, scoring from the inside edge of the left circle off a pass by Cutter Gauthier.

"Each game this year has been its own animal,” Terry said. “That's a good hockey team. It's been a good hockey team for a lot of years. From the start, no matter what the score was, it felt like we had confidence in the group. I'm proud of the way that we're trending and building."

Guentzel gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 9:10 of the first period, scoring on the rebound of his initial shot from the right circle.

Jacob Trouba tied it 1-1 at 4:42 of the second period, sending a slap shot from the right circle past Johansson to the short side.

Guentzel put the Lightning ahead 2-1 at 12:19 when he redirected a Brayden Point pass with his skate. Kucherov got his first assist of the game on the play for his 1,000th point.

"[Emil] Lilleberg moved the puck quick to me and I was able to enter the zone and find ‘Pointer,’ and Pointer did a good just of finding [Guentzel at the] back door," Kucherov said. "That's what I saw."

Cirelli extended the lead to 3-1 at 14:20, tapping in a rebound at the edge of the crease. Hedman had an assist on the goal for his 800th point, and Hagel also got an assist for his 300th NHL point.

"It feels great, it's super special," Hedman said of the milestone. "Being drafted in 2009 and never in my wildest dreams did I think of getting this high up. Good thing it was an early game so my kids were here to witness it."

NOTES: Ducks forward Mikael Granlund did not play after the first period because of a lower-body injury. There was no update. ... Terry has a three-game goal streak (three goals) and six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas did not play because of a lower-body injury. He left the previous game, against the Boston Bruins, on Thursday. ... Kucherov has 1,001 points (359 goals, 642 assists). ... Hedman (801 points; 171 goals, 630 assists) is one of three active defensemen with at least 800 points, joining Brent Burns of the Colorado Avalanche (914) and Erik Karlsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins (875). … Hagel has 125 goals and 175 assists for his career. … Lightning defenseman Charles-Edouard D'Astous was minus-1 with one shot on goal in 14:57 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Tampa Bay forward Zemgus Girgensons was minus-1 with two shots in 12:18 making his season debut after having an upper-body injury.