EDMONTON — Nikita Kucherov had a goal and four assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning extend their point streak to 12 games with a 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.
Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson each scored two goals for the Lightning (28-7-2), who are 11-0-1 in their past 12 games, the longest point streak in the NHL this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves.
It was Kucherov’s first five-point game in the NHL.
“It’s a tough building to play in, they’re a good team, but I thought we played 60 minutes of really good hockey,” Kucherov said.
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Oilers highlights]
Connor McDavid had three assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Alex Chiasson and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers (18-15-3), who have lost three games in a row. Mikko Koskinen made 39 saves.
“We can play with a team like that,” Draisaitl said. “If we take out a few errors, team-wise, structure-wise and individually, we saw for a big part of the game that we can play with a team like that. That’s a good sign, but they scored three more goals than we did.”
Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 10:15 of the first period when he scored off a pass from McDavid.
It was McDavid’s 200th NHL assist. He is the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 before turning 22 (Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk, Ron Francis).
Video: TBL@EDM: McDavid gets 200th assist on RNH’s goal
Stamkos tied it 1-1 at 17:09 when he scored off a cross-ice pass from Kucherov on the power play.
Chiasson gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead when he scored on the power play at 2:50 of the second period, tipping in a point shot from Darnell Nurse.
“The big thing for us is that we thought we were playing well, we looked up on the scoreboard, and we were down 2-1,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We thought we deserved a little bit of a different fate, but they were clicking on the power play. The guys stuck with it. I thought we defended well tonight, we didn’t really give them a ton. Aside from those early odd-man rushes we gave up early in the game, we settled in and the boys defended and got the goals when we needed them.”
Video: TBL@EDM: Stamkos buries one-timer on power play
Kucherov tied it 2-2 at 13:00 when he scored on a breakaway following a turnover inside the Tampa Bay blue line, and Miller gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 14:32 when he tipped a centering pass from Erik Cernak.
Johnson scored at 4:17 of the third period on the rebound of a Brayden Point shot to make it 4-2.
“They’re one of the top teams in the League for the last couple of years,” Chiasson said. “Their top three lines are as deep as anyone in the League. They have grit and speed on the fourth line and a great back end. They have a lot going on with that team.”
Draisaitl scored with a shot from the right face-off circle on the power play to get the Oilers to within 4-3 at 6:17.
Stamkos scored his 20th goal at 15:03 to make it 5-3, and Johnson scored into an empty net at 18:35 with Koskinen on the bench for the extra skater for the 6-3 final.
“I thought they were a little bit better than we were in the first period,” Edmonton coach Ken Hitchcock said. “But I thought until the second goal and the third goal right after that, we played a perfect second period. We had the lead, and then we gave up a breakaway, and I thought the third goal broke our backs. That hurt us a lot.”
Video: TBL@EDM: Stamkos finishes give-and-go with Kucherov
They said it
“I’m just playing hockey and trying to enjoy the game, trying to make the right play every time. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, sometimes it happens, and today it happened.” — Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov on his five-point game
“In the second period, they got those two goals one after another, and when they get momentum, they are a tough team to stop. We battled the whole third period and had a few chances, but we missed on them while they capitalized.” — Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Need to know
Kucherov has 39 points (nine goals, 30 points) in his past 19 games. … McDavid is the fifth player in NHL history with 100 goals, 200 assists and 300 points before turning 22 (Gretzky, Lemieux, Hawerchuk, Crosby). … McDavid has 52 points (19 goals, 33 assists) in 35 games this season. It’s the fastest he’s reached 50 points in the NHL and the fastest for an Oilers player since Mark Messier in 1989-90.
What’s next
Lightning: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NHL.TV)
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2CvBZve
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