@jayRecher
*****
Six different Bolts players scored, Nikita Kucherov registered three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Seattle Kraken 6-2 on Tuesday night at Amalie Arena.
Ian Cole, Erik Cernak, Corey Perry, Brayden Point, Ross Colton & Steven Stamkos found the back of the net for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning came out firing right out of the gates, and took the lead just 91 seconds into the game.
Cole threw a shot from the point that somehow pinballed in front and by Seattle netminder Philipp Grubauer to put Tampa Bay up 1-0. The goal was originally thought to be Point's goal, then Kucherov, but finally it was awarded to Cole.
The Bolts doubled their lead at 7:24 when Cernak took a pass from Point in the high slot and snapped a shot over the blocker of Grubauer to make it 2-0.
Kucherov assisted on both of the Lightning's first two goals, the second one being his 400th career assist.
Seattle cut the Tampa Bay lead in half with a Jared McCann goal at 18:39 and the Kraken went into the first intermission thinking they were within striking distance of the Bolts. The ice was tilted in the visitors favor for a good portion of the first half of the 2nd period, but Perry's power play tally at 12:13 changed everything.
Following a tripping call to Brandon Tanev the Lightning had a pretty lethargic start to the man-advantage, but Perry was able to beat Grubauer to the short-side with five seconds remaining on the power play to put Tampa Bay up a pair once more.
Mikhail Sergachev picked up an assist on the Perry goal giving him 200 points in his career. He is the fourth Bolts defenseman to reach the 200-point mark.
Then, some absolute brilliance from Brayden Point.
Flying into the offensive zone, the Lightning's star center zipped past three Seattle defenders and flipped a backhander over the glove of Grubauer to send the Amalie Arena crowd into a frenzy.
During the TV timeout, Grubauer was replaced by Martin Jones, but he didn't fare much better, giving up a goal to Colton on a deflection of a Sergachev point shot at 15:36.
Stamkos scored at 5:29 of the 3rd to put the Lightning up 6-1, which extended his point-scoring streak to 14 games. That tally was also #497, just three away from 500.
Ryan Donato also scored for Seattle.
Grubauer made 16 saves on the evening, while Jones topped 8 of the 10 shots he saw.
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SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Cole - (Hagel, Kucherov) - 1:31
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Point, Kucherov) - 7:24
- Seattle - McCann - (Eberle) - 18:39
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Perry - (Colton, Sergachev) - 12:13
- Tampa Bay - Point - (Kucherov, Hedman) - 13:28
- Tampa Bay - Colton - (Sergachev, Cirelli) - 15:36
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Hedman, Cirelli) - 5:29
- Seattle - Donato - (Gourde) - 19:55
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PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
- Seattle - Dunn - (Holding) - 0:50
- Seattle - Tanev - (Tripping) - 10:17
3rd Period
- Seattle - Gourde - (Roughing) - 4:48
- Seattle - Donato - (Roughing) - 4:48
- Seattle - Sprong - (Roughing) - 4:48
- Tampa Bay - Colton - (Roughing) - 4:48
- Tampa Bay - Maroon - (Roughing) - 4:48
- Tampa Bay - Hagel - (High Sticking) - 4:57
- Tampa Bay - Foote - (Roughing) - 7:45
- Tampa Bay - MAJOR - Foote - (Fighting) - 7:45
- Seattle - MAJOR - Geekie - (Fighting) - 7:45
- Tampa Bay - Cole - (Holding) - 15:03
- Seattle - Tanev - (Delay of Game) - 17:20
- Seattle - Tanev - (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) - 17:20
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Delay of Game) - 17:20
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) - 17:20
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What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Thursday night as they welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to Amalie Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm.
Photo: Getty Images North America
PHOTO : Getty Images