The Tampa Bay Lightning are currently tied for first place in the NHL in goals per game, averaging 3.96, and it’s easy to see why.
Nikita Kucherov helped the Lightning with a big 8-3 road win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday by tying two franchise records with six points and five assists.
The Lightning will finish their four-game Western road trip with a game against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday after going 2-1-0 so far.
Kucherov has 44 points in 25 games, including 14 goals and 30 assists. He is second in the league in both points and assists, just behind Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon (47 points, 36 assists).
Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point, who had a goal and three assists in the win against Calgary, said, “It just makes the game so much easier, especially playing on his line.” Point is now tied for second in the league with 19 goals, just two behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, and also has 20 assists.
“He had six points… Just incredible. It’s not hard to believe coming from ‘Kuch,’ but he’s been rolling this season and he’s a big part of our wins.”
Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick, and Anthony Cirelli added a goal and two assists. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves in his 500th NHL game.
Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh praised Vasilevskiy, saying, “He’s been the backbone of this team, backbone of this franchise for the last decade here. Credit to him.
He’s so consistent and hungry to win and we feed off his competitiveness. Great for us to come through in a milestone game for him.”
Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak were both out with lower-body injuries during the game in Calgary, and defenseman J.J. Moser left in the second period due to the same injury.
Coach Jon Cooper explained, “It’s a tough league to stay healthy in, and we got banged up in Vancouver (a 4-2 win on Sunday) and we’re just trying to hold it together here until we get home.”
The Kraken improved to 4-1-1 in December with a 5-1 victory over Boston on Thursday, as Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals and Philipp Grubauer made 33 saves.
Bjorkstrand has scored four goals in the last three games, including two goals in a 7-5 win against the Rangers in New York, and has tied Jared McCann for the team lead with 11 goals.
It was Grubauer’s second consecutive win after only having one win in his first nine appearances this season.
Bjorkstrand praised Grubauer’s performance, saying, “Great game for (Grubauer). He obviously kept us in it. I mean, he played really well all game, so you build momentum off that when you have times in the game where they’re pushing hard. We relied heavily on him (Thursday), and he did really well.”
Grubauer also spoke highly of his defensemen. He said, “I think (the Bruins) only had like two or three chances there in the slot. We played tight, kept them to the outside, and they had a high volume of shots, but I don’t think they had that many high-quality shots.”
The Kraken wore a patch with the word “Bondo” on their jerseys to honor their owner, David Bonderman, who passed away Wednesday at age 82. Bonderman was key in renovating the old Seattle Center Coliseum to bring an NHL expansion team to Seattle.
Grubauer said, “I’m going to dedicate that win to Mr. Bonderman because without him I don’t think we would be here. Sam, the Bonderman family, what they’ve done for the city and for us is incredible.”
