Lightning top Predators, keep pace for third place in Atlantic Division

TAMPA -- Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-2 win against the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (48-22-8) and Brian Elliott made 19 saves.
The Lightning have won four of their past five games. They stayed three points ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division and moved within five points of the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs.
"If we are going to do anything we have to look after our own end," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I don't care who's in net, if you're not defending they can only do so much. When you give your goaltender some help, like we have been doing the past couple of games, good things happen. It all starts with a commitment to [defense] and we've done it the past couple of games and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor."

Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier scored for Nashville (44-29-5), which is tied with the Dallas Stars for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Juuse Saros made 24 saves on 30 shots before he was pulled at 2:08 of the third period.
"We don't have a lot of time to dwell on tonight," Predators coach John Hynes said. "We weren't good enough in several different areas. We had a number of breakdowns and gave them some easy shots. They have a lot of talent on that team."
Hedman gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 1:51 of the first period on a power-play goal. His 20th tied Dan Boyle for most goals in a season by a Lightning defenseman.
"'Stammer' did a good job of putting it on a platter," Hedman said. "Great job by 'Kuch' down low. He collapsed the box and gave me an open shooting lane. I just aimed for the stars [on Saros' jersey] and hit it as hard as I could."
Hedman is the sixth Lightning player to reach the 20-goal mark this season.
"Balanced scoring ... it's pivotal, and if you want to go anywhere in the playoffs you need more than a couple of guys scoring," Cooper said. "I look at the guys that have 20 or more or close to 20 and it's a big reason for our success."

Anthony Cirelli made it 2-0 at 10:59 when he scored in transition after a Predators turnover in the neutral zone.
Josi scored to make it 2-1 at 17:18 with a power-play goal. He has scored 90 points (21 goals, 69 assists) this season.
"Every time we've had a game like this we've responded well so far this year," Josi said. "We have to turn the page really quick. We can't have this game carry over. Every game down the stretch is key. We've got a very good team coming in [Sunday] with Minnesota."
He's the ninth NHL defenseman with 90 points in a season and the first since Ray Bourque scored 91 points (20 goals, 71 assists) in 1993-94.
"It's definitely not on my mind tonight," Josi said of the milestone. "We're in a playoff hunt and it was a disappointing night for us. Sometime I'll look back at this and be happy, but tonight was a disappointment with the way it ended and the way we played."

Kucherov made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 19:40.
Carrier scored to make it 3-2 at 10:42 of the second period after a pass through the crease from Philip Tomasino.
Stamkos extended the Lightning lead to 4-2 at 13:58 with a goal off a one-timer from below the left face-off circle.
Ross Colton made it 5-2 at 1:37 of the third period with his fifth goal in the past three games and Pat Maroon scored at 2:08 to make it 6-2.
Saros was pulled for David Rittich, who made nine saves in relief.
"We're trying to amp up our game here," Cirelli said. "We've had a couple of big, emotional games in the past week. We know what playoff hockey is like and I think it's just us gearing up and getting ready."
NOTES:Stamkos has scored 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) during a five-game multipoint streak, including three straight with three points. ... Stamkos (35), Brayden Point (27), Alex Killorn (25), Colton (22) and Kucherov (21) also have scored 20 goals for Tampa Bay. ... Kucherov has scored 11 points (six goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Boyle scored 20 goals for the Lightning in 2006-07. ... Lightning forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare did not play because of a lower-body injury and is day to day. ... Point got his 200th NHL assist on Kucherov's goal. ... Predators forward Matt Duchene had an assist and has scored four points (two goals two assists) during a four-game point streak.