High 5 for Kucherov, Tampa Bay
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and three assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Blue Jackets, 5-1, last night in Columbus for their sixth straight win.
Brayden Point scored twice and Steven Stamkos also had a goal for the Lightning, who are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 40 shots and got his 26th win. Kucherov now has 99 points to lead the league, with seven goals in the last five games.
Lukas Sedlak scored and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 15 saves for the Blue Jackets, who had won four straight.
Columbus outshot the Lightning 19-6 in the first period, but Kucherov scored twice. He first beat Korpisalo top shelf off a lead pass from Yanni Gourde with 8:42 left, and then nabbed a turnover in the neutral zone and slipped it through the goalie’s five-hole with 5:36 remaining for his 29th of the season.
Stamkos made it 3-0 with just 28.1 seconds left in the second, 4 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play when he buried his 33rd off a pass from Kucherov.
Point made it 4-0 just 12 seconds into the third on a power play from just above the circles off a feed from Kucherov. That extended Point’s point streak to five games. Point then got his 35th only 34 seconds later just later off a pass from Kucherov.
Blackhawks 8, Senators 7 — Alex DeBrincat picked up five points, including his fourth career hat trick, Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists each and host Chicago outlasted Ottawa in an offensive display.
The Blackhawks led 5-4 after the first period and pushed the lead to 7-5 through 40 minutes.
Thomas Chabot and Colin White both scored a pair of goals for Ottawa.
Flames 5, Coyotes 2 — Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist in the third period to help host Calgary beat Arizona.
Mark Giordano also had a goal and an assist, and Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik had the other goals for the Flames. Elias Lindholm assisted on both third-period goals, Rasmus Andersson also had two assists, and Mike Smith stopped 27 shots in his third straight start (2-0-1).
Conor Garland and Jordan Weal scored for the Coyotes. Calvin Pickard finished with 29 saves in his third start for Arizona since being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Nov. 29.
Elsewhere in the NHL — Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo has been sent home for further medical evaluation three days after being punched in the face during a fight with the New York Rangers’ Tony DeAngelo.
Coach Phil Housley gave no details on Okposo’s condition in providing the update after the Sabres practiced in Florida yesterday before facing the Panthers tonight. Though the nature of the injury is unclear, Okposo did not return after being felled by DeAngelo’s punch during the fight 7:51 into the third of a 6-2 loss to the Rangers Friday.
Okposo traveled with the team for the start of its threegame road trip at New Jersey, but did not play Sunday in the 4-1 loss to the Devils. The 30-year-old has a history of concussion-related troubles during his 12 NHL seasons.
Housley also announced defenseman Marco Scandella is listed week to week with an upper body injury.