Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights
· National Hockey League
Lightning beat Golden Knights 6-2 as Kucherov ties franchise points record
The Lightning (7-2) are off to their best start since opening 7-1-1 in 2020-21, when they repeated as Stanley Cup champions.
Vegas had won seven of eight.
Kucherov has at least one point in all 15 games he's played against the Golden Knights. That ranks behind only Mario Lemieux (26 games against Calgary) and Tomas Sandstrom (17 games against Tampa Bay) among players who scored in every game against an opponent. Connor McDavid had a 17-game streak against New Jersey that ended in January.
With a goal and two assists, Kucherov increased his total to 1,137 career points, pulling even with former teammate Steven Stamkos for the club record.
Brandon Hagel, John Carlson and Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots.
Ivan Barbashev scored his first goal of the season for the Golden Knights, and Mark Stone got his fifth in three games. Carter Hart made 15 saves on 21 shots.
Cirelli gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead 6:44 into the second period off a pass from Kucherov, then scored unassisted to make it 4-2 at 10:09.
Both teams played a wide-open game. Each side scored twice in the first period before the Lightning broke it open with three goals in the second for a 5-2 lead. Those five goals came on 14 shots, the last from the left point by Hedman that somehow got by Hart late in the second.
Kucherov's breakaway goal early in the third made it 6-2.
Golden Knights forward Brett Howden, drafted 27th overall by the Lightning in 2016, played in his 500th career game. It was his 322nd for Vegas.
Golden Knights: Visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
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Regular Season SeriesTB leads series 1-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 4:11 | Brandon Hagel Goal (7) Tip-In, assists: Charle-Edouard D'Astous (2), Nikita Kucherov (8) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 13:16 | Ivan Barbashev Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Mitch Marner (10) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 14:04 | John Carlson Goal (3) Wrist Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 1st Period 18:30 | Mark Stone Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Braeden Bowman (2) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 6:44 | Anthony Cirelli Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Nikita Kucherov (9) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 10:09 | Anthony Cirelli Goal (3) Snap Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 17:56 | Victor Hedman Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 5:16 | Nikita Kucherov Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: none |
Statistics
 TB |
 VGK |
|
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Blocked Shots | 17 |
| 13 | Hits | 24 |
| 5 | Takeaways | 2 |
| 21 | Shots | 34 |
| 1 | Power Play Goals | 0 |
| 3 | Power Play Opportunities | 4 |
| 33.3 | Power Play Percentage | 0.0 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 1 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 33 | Faceoffs Won | 25 |
| 56.9 | Faceoff Win Percent | 43.1 |
| 22 | Giveaways | 18 |
| 4 | Total Penalties | 3 |
| 8 | Penalty Minutes | 6 |
Vegas Golden Knights Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Parker Wotherspoon, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 21 |
Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Victor Hedman, D | Day-To-Day | Oct 25 |
| Zemgus Girgensons, C | Day-To-Day | Oct 24 |
| Yanni Gourde, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 28 |
Game Information
T-Mobile Arena
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 17,017 | Capacity:
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 17,017 | Capacity:
