Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists, while Steven Stamkos added three points as the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their point streak to 16 straight games with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings Thursday at Staples Center.
Tampa Bay took advantage of a four-minute double-minor penalty to Brendan Leipsic for high sticking Brayden Coburn. They began putting pressure on Jonathan Quick, which forced Dustin Brown to take a hooking penalty which gave the Lightning a two-minute 5 on 3 advantage. Stamkos set up both power play goals with his passing, first finding Kucherov for his 24th goal, then just 90 seconds later, the Lightning captain assisted on Brayden Point's 20th goal of the season.
Ryan Callahan's play late in the first period allowed Tampa Bay to head to the locker room up by three goals, as he came off the bench and intercepted a clearing pass, skated in on Quick, and backhanded to puck in for his fourth goal of the season.
The Lightning wasted little time getting back on to the score sheet in the second period, as Ryan McDonagh blasted a slap shot past Quick just 25 seconds into the period for his fourth goal of the year.
Los Angeles finally got on the board midway throught the second period, as Auston Wagner sped past McDonagh with the puck and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for his fourth goal of the year.
But then it was time for the captain to get into the contest, as he took advantage of a penalty to Anze Kopitar to tally his 23rd goal of the season to make it a 5-1 lead.
Mathieu Joseph pushed the Lightning lead to 6-1 midway through the third period with his tenth goal of the year, and Drew Doughty got the Kings back to within four goals, but it was an easy finish off for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning extend their consecutive game streak of earning at least one point to 16 games (15-0-1), and are now two games from tying the franchise record set by the 2003-2004 club that won the Stanley Cup.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- TBL: GOAL (PP) - Nikita Kucherov (20). ASSISTS - Stamkos, Johnson. TIME - 6:28
- TBL: GOAL (PP) - Brayden Point (24). ASSISTS - Stamkos, Kucherov. TIME - 7:53
- TBL: GOAL - Ryan Callahan (4). ASSISTS - none. TIME - 14:05
2nd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Ryan McDonagh (4). ASSISTS - Point, Kucherov. TIME - 0:25
- LAK: GOAL - Austin Wagner (4). ASSISTS - none. TIME - 7:55
- TBL: GOAL (PP) - Steven Stamkos (23). ASSISTS - Kucherov, Hedman. TIME - 17:05
3rd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Mathieu Joseph (10). ASSIST - Callahan. TIME - 10:04
- LAK: GOAL (PP) - Drew Doughty (4). ASSISTS - Kopitar, Brown. TIME - 17:36