Kucherov’s 2 goals lead Lightning past Habs in Final opener

Thanks to his two-goal, three-point game Monday that led the host Tampa Bay Lightning to 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens to kick off the Stanley Cup Final, Nikita Kucherov is hitting rare air.

Kucherov, who missed the entire regular season after offseason hip surgery, has collected 30 points in this year’s playoff run, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Mario Lemieux to register multiple 30-point playoff years. Kucherov, Gretzky and Lemieux are the only ones to reach that mark in consecutive seasons.

“That’s one of the best players in the world,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “He’s playing like a beast right now. He’s so, so good.”

The Lightning were all beasts in the series’ curtain-raiser, and they will look for more of the same when the best-of-seven affair resumes Wednesday in Tampa.

Erik Cernak, Yanni Gourde and Stamkos also scored, while Brayden Point collected three assists and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for the defending champions.

Ben Chiarot replied for the Canadiens, and goalie Carey Price made 22 saves in the game that Tampa Bay led 2-1 after two periods before breaking it open.

“It’s one game of a seven-game series,” said Montreal

defenseman Jeff Petry, well aware his team lost its opener to the Vegas Golden Knights by a 4-1 count before winning that semifinal series. “We have to use what we did in Vegas – that experience, that mindset – to rebound and bounce back.”

After Cernak collected his first playoff goal and opened the scoring at 6:19 of the first period, Gourde doubled the edge in the second period by redirecting Blake Coleman’s shot for his second goal in as many outings and third in four games.

Chiarot’s first career playoff goal – a point shot that deflected off two Lightning defenders before finding the net -- put the Canadiens on the board late in the second period. However, Chiarot was at fault when he batted a puck out of the air into his own net to give Kucherov his first goal of the game two minutes into the third period.

Kucherov netted his second goal of the night past the midway point of the final frame with a more conventional goal, a top-corner shot, and then set up Stamkos’ power-play goal with 70 seconds remaining. The goal snapped Montreal’s perfect penalty-kill run at 32, which dated back to the first round.

Tampa Bay’s victory came at a cost, as forward Alex Killorn left the game after one shift in the third period.

To rebound, the Canadiens need better puck management. The first three Tampa Bay goals followed Montreal turnovers.

“I thought we started out OK, just a little sloppy with the puck,” Canadiens interim coach Luke Richardson said. “That’s something we can clean up and get better at.

“The positive is we didn’t play our best game. We know we can play better.” (Reuters)