Kucherov gets hat trick, 2 assists to power Lightning past Kraken

SEATTLE -- Nikita Kucherov had a hat trick and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning pulled away in the third period for a 6-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.

It was Kucherov’s seventh NHL hat trick and ninth career five-point game.

“I've watched that guy get 1,100 points. … Well, probably 1,105 now,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said of Kucherov. “So, he's a brilliant player.”

Brandon Hagel had a goal and three assists, Anthony Cirelli had a goal and two assists, and Gage Goncalves had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (41-21-4), who had lost seven of their past nine (2-7-0). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves.

“I think everyone was on the same page, we played fast, we didn’t take our time to move the puck or second-guess ourselves,” Hagel said. “When you’re connected like that, it’s easy.”

Bobby McMann and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken (31-27-9), who had won two in a row after losing four straight. Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves.

“For the most part, it was a fairly even game. Our mistakes were really catastrophic,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “Obviously, some really, really poor decisions.”

Goncalves gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 5:45 of the first period. McCann turned the puck over to Jake Guentzel inside the Kraken blue line. Guentzel passed to Brayden Point in the right circle, and Goncalves redirected his feed over Grubauer’s blocker from the slot.

“I’m just trying to build off every game, and obviously, playing with a bunch of Hall of Famers helps a lot too,” Goncalves said. “I’m pretty lucky, and those guys help me out a lot.”

Kucherov extended it to 2-0 at 18:49 after he stripped Ben Meyers of the puck at the top of the slot and finished a give-and-go play with Hagel by pushing it into an open net.

Kucherov scored again 57 seconds into the second period to make it 3-0, scoring into an open net off a 3-on-1 rush after a tic-tac-toe passing play with Hagel and Cirelli.

"I thought those guys created their chances,” Cooper said. “And they earned their pucks back, and then they're good players, so they’ve got some good chemistry together, but they made some plays that are just gorgeous goals.”

McMann cut it to 3-1 10 seconds later at 1:07. Matty Beniers intercepted a clearing attempt at the blue line, then slid it to McMann in the left circle, who sent a short-side wrist shot over Vasilevskiy’s right shoulder. It was McMann’s fourth goal in three games since being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 6.

“I think it shows some resilience in this group,” McMann said. “We’re able to claw back against good teams that are pressing hard. And then I’m also proud to prove the way that we did alter our game and kind of change things up and try and generate more offense, because that's not always easy to do.”

McCann made it 3-2 at 9:46, four seconds after a Seattle power play ended. He skated out from the right corner, delayed, and chipped a shot from the top of the crease off the right post and in.

“It started with me. Obviously, the first goal (against) there, I turned the puck over at the blue line, and they scored. So, that’s on me,” McCann said. “But I thought we had a good effort in the second period, obviously, came back and kind of made it a game.”

Cirelli extended it to 4-2 at 4:35 of the third period after Kucherov stole the puck from Beniers behind the net, then shoveled it to the crease, where Cirelli found it loose and slapped it past Grubauer’s right skate.

“We talked a lot about playing on our toes, not really sitting back,” Goncalves said. “That’s kind of hurt us in the past little bit. … You don’t want to give them a lot of time and space, so we did a really good job of kind of being on our toes, and the forecheck was good tonight.”

Hagel’s power-play goal pushed it to 5-2 at 16:54 after taking Goncalves’ cross-slot pass at the bottom of the right circle and lifting it over a sprawling Grubauer.

“I think we really showed (in the third period) what we were doing in the past couple months defending, and we ended up drawing penalties off of it,” Goncalves said. “And the power play cashed in, which is big.”

Kucherov then completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 17:16 for the 6-2 final.

NOTES: Kucherov’s hat trick surpassed Vincent Lecavalier (six) for the third most in franchise history, behind Steven Stamkos (13) and Martin St. Louis (8). His five-point game also passed Evgeni Malkin (eight) for the most among active players, behind Connor McDavid (13) and Nathan MacKinnon (11). … Guentzel became the first player in Lightning history to record 70 points in each of his first two seasons with the club. … McMann scored in his third straight game since joining the Kraken. The only active players with a longer goal streak to begin their tenure with a franchise are Malkin (six games with Pittsburgh) and Anthony Mantha (four games with Washington).