Kucherov ends drought, Lightning beat Canucks
TAMPA, FLA. » Nikita Kucherov got the Tampa Bay Lightning off to a strong start in their first home game in three weeks.
Kucherov stopped an 11-game goal drought, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for his NHL-best 32nd victory, and the Lightning beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night.
Yanni Gourde, Adam Erne, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning, who returned home after a 5-3 trip.
“We had the puck a lot because we were smart with it in the neutral zone,” Stamkos said. “It allowed dominating shifts in their defensive zone.”
Vancouver’s Brock 26th goal and Anders shots.
“They know how to put the puck in the net,” Nilsson said. “That’s a good team over there. I felt OK but obviously none of us were good enough.”
Kucherov opened the scoring on his 28th goal by converting a rebound 14:36 into the first period. “You’re not going to keep a kid like that down for long,” Stamkos said. “It was a matter of time. You could tell by his celebration he was happy to score.”
After Gourde got his 20th goal during a power play at 1:38 of the second, Erne made it 3-0 with 6:20 left in the second in his first NHL game this season. Boeser Nilsson scored his stopped 31
The Lightning recalled Erne from Syracuse of the AHL before the game. COYOTES 4, WILD 3 » Clayton Keller scored Arizona’s fourth straight goal at 3:55 of overtime to give the Coyotes a comeback victory over Minnesota.
Nick Cousins scored twice for Arizona. His second goal tied it with 18.3 seconds remaining in regulation after Arizona pulled goalie Antti Raanta for an extra attacker. SABRES 4, ISLANDERS 3 » Sam Reinhart poked in a rebound with 4:14 left, and Buffalo beat New York after squandering a three-goal lead.
Jack Eichel and Evan Rodrigues each had a goal and an assist for Buffalo, and Ryan O’Reilly also scored. Robin Lehner stopped 26 shots to help Buffalo salvage the finale of a five-game homestand after going 0-3-1 in its previous four games. SENATORS 4, PREDATORS 3 » Mike Hoffman scored 3:01 into overtime, lifting Ottawa past Nashville.
Chris DiDomenico, Max McCormick and Magnus Paajarvi also scored to help the Senators win for the fourth time in five games. Craig Anderson made 35 saves for his 15th win of the season.
P.K. Subban scored twice for the Predators (32-12-9), and Calle Jarnkrok picked up his 13th goal. Juuse Saros stopped 32 shots. BLUES 6, AVALANCHE 1 » Brayden Schenn scored twice and Vince Dunn had a career-high three assists to help St. Louis beat Colorado.
Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, and Ivan Barbashev, Kyle Brodziak and Alex Pietrangelo also scored. The Blues scored more than four goals for the first time since Dec. 9.
Carter Hutton made 23 saves as St. Louis beat Colorado for the fourth straight time. The Blues have earned points against the Avalanche in 12 consecutive games. Gabriel Bourque scored for the Avalanche. FLAMES 3, DEVILS 2 » Johnny Gaudreau scored the go-ahead goal and set up linemate Sean Monahan’s second of the game, and Calgary won its third straight.
Backup David Rittich made 30 saves, giving Mike Smith a rare night off and helping the Flames improve to 15-5-5 on the road.
Taylor Hall New Jersey. and Pavel Zacha scored for