Kucherov chasing Lemieux

Record made in 1992-93 may fall

Nikita Kucherov of Tampa Bay has scored at least one goal in each of the Lightning’s seven games this season. If he can score at least one in five consecutive games, he will tie a record set by Penguins owner Mario Lemieux at the start of the 1992-93 NHL season.

En route to scoring 18 goals in the first 12 games that season, Lemieux scored at least one in each of those 12 games, and no one has matched that sizzling start.

Kucherov has eight goals already after scoring again in the second period of Tampa Bay’s 5-4 shootout loss at New Jersey Tuesday.

His next chance to close the gap on Lemieux comes Thursday against Columbus. And after that ... well, he will face the visiting Penguins Saturday night.

Kucherov already is in legendary company. Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman scored a goal in each of the first six games of the season for Detroit in 1988-89, and Keith Tkachuk of St. Louis did so in 2008-09.

Predators

Nashville recalled forward Frederick Gaudreau from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals Tuesday and placed defenseman Yannick Weber on injured reserve. Gaudreau played in nine games with Nashville last season, and the forward was at his best in the playoffs where he scored three goals in eight games. Gaudreau became the first player since John Harms with Chicago in 1944 to score the first three goals of his career in the Stanley Cup Final. Weber was hit in the head by Dallas’ Martin Hanzal last week.

Elsewhere

The National Hockey League and some of its 31 teams are fielding pitches from companies offering to install high-definition cameras and facial recognition software in league arenas, TSN of Canada reported Tuesday. A senior executive with one NHL club told TSN that he expects facial-recognition technology will be adopted by his team and others in the league within the next two years. “One of the reasons we haven’t seen this adopted is because we’ve been lucky,” the executive said. “We’ve seen attacks at concerts, at the Boston Marathon, at the Olympics, and at international soccer games. If there was an incident at a hockey game, this is something that would have already happened in the NHL.”