Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point continued their sizzling play as the Lightning cruised to another lopsided win over New Jersey, beating the Devils 5-1 in Newark, N.J., on Monday.
Kucherov recorded a goal and three assists to extend his point streak to 10 games, and Point had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who won their third straight overall and swept the three-game season series against the Devils.
In their three wins over New Jersey, the Lightning outscored the last-place Metropolitan Division team 18-6.
Kucherov moved out of a third-place tie with Toronto's Mitchell Marner in the scoring race. His four points gave him 42, moving him closer to Colorado Avalanche teammates Mikko Rantanen (45) and Nathan MacKinnon (43).
The high-scoring Russian has 24 points in the 10-game streak -- five goals and 19 assists. Point had a whopping 11 points in the three wins over New Jersey.
Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos also scored goals. Louis Domingue won for the 11th time and started his 11th straight contest -- the longest goalie-start streak in the NHL this season -- and posted 26 saves.
Defenseman Egor Yakovlev scored his first NHL goal for the Devils, who have lost six straight. Keith Kinkaid stopped 16 shots in two periods in goal, and Cory Schneider made five saves in relief during the third period.
Kucherov zipped in his 12th goal at 13:31 of the first period. Using New Jersey defenseman Sami Vatanen as a screen, the right winger fired a shot from near the left circle that beat Kinkaid on the glove side for a 1-0 lead.
On the power play as the period was winding down, Kucherov fed a pass from the right circle to Point, who lifted a shot from the slot with 26 seconds left in the period for his 20th goal -- nine of them on the man advantage.
Johnson deflected in a long shot by McDonagh for his 11th goal at 8:20 of the second period for a 3-0 lead. Shortly after Yakovlev's goal at 11:26, Gourde chipped in a clever backhand pass from Stamkos for his 10th marker and a 4-1 lead.
Stamkos scored his ninth goal of the season on the power play 20 seconds into the third period on Kucherov's third assist, and the Lightning kept the Devils scoreless down the stretch en route for the win.
--Field Level Media
Tampa Bay | New Jersey | |
Nikita Kucherov 4 | Points | Egor Yakovlev 1 |
Nikita Kucherov 1 | Goals | Egor Yakovlev 1 |
Nikita Kucherov 3 | Assists | Stefan Noesen 1 |
Brayden Point 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Louis Domingue .963 | Save Percentage | Cory Schneider .833 |
Louis Domingue 26 | Saves | Keith Kinkaid 16 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Tampa Bay | 26 | 5 | 2-3 | 4-4 | 10 | 30 |
New Jersey | 27 | 1 | 0-4 | 1-3 | 8 | 29 |