Nikita Kucherov scored one goal and had five assists to tie his career-high six-point game, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy earned a win in his 500th career game as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 8-3 on Thursday night.
Jake Guentzel had a hat trick in the big win. Brayden Point added one goal and three assists, Anthony Cirelli contributed one goal and two assists, Brandon Hagel scored one goal with an assist, and Conor Geekie also scored. Vasilevskiy made 19 saves in the victory, and the Lightning have won three of their last four games.
For the Flames, Jonathan Huberdeau had one goal and one assist, Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary each scored once, and goalie Dan Vladar stopped 18 shots. Calgary has won only once in their last four games.
The Flames took the lead early when Huberdeau scored his 11th goal of the season at 4:42. However, the Lightning quickly took control by scoring four straight goals.
Kucherov tied the game with a breakaway goal at the end of the first period. Guentzel then scored from the slot to give Tampa Bay the lead, and Point added a power-play goal early in the second period for a 3-1 advantage. Cirelli increased the lead with another power-play goal at 11:05 in the second period.
The Flames came back with two goals to make it 4-3. Kadri scored his 10th goal at 12:14, and Zary scored his seventh at 14:50.
However, Hagel quickly restored the Lightning’s two-goal lead, scoring just 43 seconds into the third period. Guentzel added another power-play goal at 11:34, and Geekie completed the scoring with his fifth goal of the season. Guentzel finished his hat trick by scoring his 16th goal at 17:21 to cap off the 8-3 victory.
