Lightning win in OT, hand Kraken 7th straight loss

SEATTLE -- Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal at 3:12 of overtime for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who handed the Seattle Kraken their seventh straight loss with a 4-3 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

Kucherov, who also had an assist, finished a pass off the rush from Brandon Hagel in front.

“'Hags' just wheels through everybody and found me backdoor,” Kucherov said. “[Just a] tap-in.”

Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, Hagel had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning (13-11-5), who killed off a penalty for 1:44 in overtime before Kucherov's game-winner.

"Killing that off and coming back [was huge],” Tampa Bay forward Nick Paul said. “And [so was] Hags beating two guys down the wing and putting it to the net.”

Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jamie Oleksiak and Jared McCann scored, and Jordan Eberle had two assists for the Kraken (8-13-7), who are 0-5-2 during their skid.

“We got ourselves into a 2-0 hole,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “There’s all kinds of things that are not going our way, but through all of that, there was nothing but push from our guys."

Philipp Grubauer allowed two goals on 23 shots in two periods before leaving with a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Joey Daccord, who made five saves.

"I mean, I hate to see it for [Grubauer] and obviously for our team,” Hakstol said. “He played very well in net tonight. He was outstanding."

Cirelli gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 9:28 of the first period with a redirection of Nick Perbix's one-timer from the point.

Kucherov pushed it to 2-0 at 19:16 when he tapped in a backdoor pass from Brayden Point at the left post.

“Same thing I say pretty much after every game,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said about Kucherov. “Even the year he was the MVP (2018-19), he’s better this year.”

Bjorkstrand cut it to 2-1 at 9:52 of the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that Vasilevskiy whiffed on with his glove.

Oleksiak tied it 2-2 at 12:23 with a one-timer off a pass from Eberle, who won a battle with Perbix in the corner to make the play.

"These times are tough,” Eberle said. “We've got to find a way to get out of it and flip the script from a losing streak to a winning streak.”

McCann scored a power-play goal 14 seconds into the third period to give the Kraken a 3-2 lead. It was their first lead since a 7-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 22.

“I don’t feel we should have been in the position we were in to have to come from behind,” Cooper said. “Seattle, they probably weren’t happy with their first. They came out and pushed in the second. We aided them in some of their push, but what’s done is done. We’re down 3-2 in the third, and in the end, we found a way.”

Paul tied it 3-3 at 7:09, chipping in a pass from Cirelli in front.

“Second period, we just needed to get back on the forecheck,” Paul said. “We did it in the third. It’s a great play. 'Kuch' buys time, passes it to 'C,' C makes a great play just in front of the net there. It was good.”

NOTES: Kucherov leads the NHL with 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists) this season, seven more than J.T. Miller of the Vancouver Canucks, who is second. … Bjorkstrand’s goal was his 300th NHL point. … Hakstol did not have an update on Grubauer but said, “I would think we’ll take at least a day or two [before] we’ll have some more information." … Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz also left the game after getting hit in the face with the puck at 4:55 of the second period. There was no update.