Lightning score nine, top Canucks for eighth straight victory

TAMPA -- Carter Verhaeghe had his first NHL hat trick to help the Tampa Bay Lightning extend their winning streak to eight games with a 9-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Verhaeghe completed the hat trick at 18:09 of the third period with the Lightning on a 5-on-3 advantage. Nikita Kucherov faked a shot and sent a cross-ice pass to Verhaeghe, who beat Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko with a quick wrist shot.
"It feels pretty good," Verhaeghe said. "All the guys were trying to get me the puck there and Kucherov] makes a great play. It was a great effort by the guys."
***[WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Lightning highlights]*
Verhaeghe had a chance to match a Lightning record with a fourth goal when he had a mini-breakaway with 21 seconds remaining but Demko made a pad save.
"He has been playing with some more confidence now and we saw that tonight," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said of Verhaeghe. "He could've had four or five. Obviously, it was great to get him out there and [Kucherov] made a great play and as you could tell by the celebration on the bench we were so happy for him."

Tampa Bay (25-13-4) scored six goals in the second period, including three in a 56-second span. Brayden Point had a goal and three assists and Stamkos had a goal and two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.
Elias Pettersson and Loui Eriksson scored for the Canucks (23-16-4), who lost for the first time in eight games.
"I think our guys were excited to play tonight," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "You could feel it on the bench when we made it 2-2. It's no secret, there was a little bit of magnitude with this game. All of a sudden five minutes later it's 6-2 and you could really feel a real letdown from our group. I don't think we even recovered in the third period."
Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with his 20th goal of the season at 18:58 of the first period.

Tyler Johnson tied the game 1-1 at 4:21 of the second period. Stamkos gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 10:10 with a power-play goal from the slot off a face-off win by Point.
Eriksson tied it 2-2 at 14:05, but Killorn put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 15:07 on a breakaway down the left side. Verhaghe's first goal of the game made it 4-2 at 17:06.
"We turned to many pucks over," Canucks center Bo Horvat said. "And a team like that, that's got that much firepower, is going to make you play for it."
Nikita Kucherov scored his 15th goal of the season to make it 5-2 at 17:37, and Erik Cernak made it 6-2 at 18:02.

Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom was pulled for Demko after Cernak's goal.
"It's terrible," Markstrom said. "There's a reason you get pulled, because there's a big possibility we're not winning the hockey game. It's embarrassing personally. Mostly for the team, you feel like you let down your teammates. It's never a good feeling."
Point scored his 18th goal of the season to make it 7-2 at 4:37 of the third. Verhaeghe's second goal made it 8-2 at 12:43.
"A big part of what we're trying to learn, and trying to do, is close out games," Point said. "Tonight I thought we did a good job in the third period. We stuck with it and kept playing our game. We got rewarded for it on the scoresheet."

They said it

"A 9-2 loss is never fun. We've got to have a short memory. Learn from it and not think about it too much." -- Canucks center Elias Pettersson
"[The Yanni Gourde-Mitchell Stephens-Verhaeghe line] can get on guys quick. They probably don't get the minutes some of the other lines get, but the ones they've been giving us in quality, especially when you can play with pace like that." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Stamkos scored his 153rd NHL power-play goal to tie him with Doug Gilmour for 45th in NHL history. … The last time the Lightning had six goals in a period was against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 19, 1995. … Horvat has eight points (two goals, six assists) during a four-game point streak. … Pettersson has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Markstrom made 15 saves on 21 shots. ... Victor Hedman of the Lightning had an assist and became the quickest defenseman to reach 40 points (nine goals, 31 assists) for Tampa Bay (42 games), besting Roman Hamrlik, who did it in 46 games in 1995-96.

What's next

Canucks: At the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, SNP, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)