It was reported on Friday by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that Kucherov, the reigning Hart Trophy winner in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract he signed July 10, 2018, told the Lightning that he would not re-sign with the team and instead would like to be traded.
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois then released a statement saying they are not planning on trading Kucherov.
“We are aware of the media reports regarding the future of Nikita Kucherov with the Lightning,” BriseBois said in a statement posted on the team’s social media account. “We unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita.”
Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal at 7:27 of the third period on the power play before recording the lone goal of a four-round shootout to win it for Nashville.
Adam Edstrom scored, and Filip Forsberg and Nick Perbix each had two assists for the Predators (5-4-5), who had lost two in a row and seven of nine (2-3-4). Justus Annunen made 22 saves before stopping all four Tampa Bay attempts in the shootout.
John Carlson had a goal and an assist, and Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning (8-4-1), who had earned points in five of their previous six games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.
Reid Schaefer, playing for the first time since Oct. 22, gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 11:14 of the first period. He picked up a pass from Alexander Kerfoot along the boards and fired a wrist shot from the right side past Vasilevskiy for his first goal of the season.
Carlson tied it 1-1 at 13:38 when his wrist shot from the point deflected off Edstrom’s stick and into the net.
Guentzel put Tampa Bay ahead 2-1 just 18 seconds into the second period, redirecting another Carlson shot from long range.
Edstrom answered 27 seconds later to tie it 2-2. Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone, allowing Edstrom to take possession, skate the length of the ice and use a backhand-forehand move to knock a snap shot into the top right corner.
Hedman gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 3:23 off Kucherov’s pass from the corner, beating Annunen with a wrist shot from the high slot.
Jayden Struble tied it 3-3 at 19:42 on a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.
Conor Geekie put Tampa Bay back in front 4-3 at 3:31 of the third period. Shortly after winning a face-off in the neutral zone, Jeffrey Viel whipped a pass from behind the net to Geekie, who was alone in the slot for a wrist shot.
Stamkos then tied it 4-4 at 7:27 on the power play after collecting his own rebound off the post.
