TAMPA, Fla. – Lightning center Brayden Point scored on a shorthanded goal and he laid down two assists as he and forward Nikita Kucherov assisted each other and the Tampa Bay Lightning vanquished the New York Rangers, 6-2, at Amalie Arena.
Lightning special teams was a story as Point scored a shorthanded goal with his two assists. He enjoyed his 10th game where he tabulated more than one point.
“Don’t apologize for winning,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “We won a game 6-2 tonight. For anybody who was in the building, it was not a 6-2 game. I think we faced a team that has been up and down lately.”
The Lightning led, 2-1, at the end of the first period and then in a span of 4:33, Tampa Bay netted three goals for the insurmountable 5-1 lead.
“We came out in the second period and did our thing,” said Cooper. “We got the lead and controlled our way basically through the game.”
Point gave Kucherov a helper on a power play goal in the first period to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:27. In the second, Kucherov returned the favor as he found Point on the left side of the crease for a backhanded shot and a 3-1 lead at 3:35.
Kucherov joined Point with a goal and two assists, and he has already recorded 53 points on the season as he defined his 12th multi-point elixir of the season. Kucherov is third in the NHL in points with Colorado center Nathan Mackinnon (60) the leader and Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl with 54 points.
“Our PK has had lot of chances and we scored twice on the PK tonight and I think it’s the effort and the reads of those guys,” explained Point. “I think they’re so smart.”
At 5:02, forward Brandon Hagel retrieved a loose puck in the back corner of the Lightning zone. He skated up the ice on an odd-man rush with center Nick Cirelli and released the pass to Cirelli who scored on the left side of the crease.
Tampa Bay is seventh in the NHL as the Lightning have accrued seven shorties and only trail Florida’s 10.
“They’re (NYR) big and to score a goal against them is awesome so obviously you’re looking at probably a goal against (shorthanded) so to turn it around is awesome,” Point said. “It was a shift in the game, for sure.”
The final Tampa Bay marker of the commanding second period saw Point score his power play goal off of a pass from Kucherov, who passed from the right circle into the middle to pick up his second assist of the evening and the 37th this season.
“We did a lot of things to put us in positions where we could score,” noted Cooper, who noted the win “wasn’t a recipe” to move forward. “Special teams did it’s thing and some times in an 82-game season, that’s all you need.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy had another superior evening as he was pelted with 44 shots, stopping 42. He passed Tuukka Rask with his 309th win which gave him the ninth most NHL wins for a goalie outside of the United States. Vasilevskiy currently has a 2.39 goals against average and a 91.1 save percentage.
Ryan McDonough and Nick Paul recorded Tampa Bay’s other two scores.
