Nikita Kucherov scored a hat trick in the final nine minutes and the Tampa Bay Lightning posted a 4-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes in the season opener for both teams on Friday night in Raleigh, NC.
Brayden Point scored Tampa Bay’s first goal, with Kucherov getting an assist on the goal. Kucherov added two empty-net goals, including the final one with 16 seconds left.
Nyazi’s first two goals came on power plays.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning, who responded quickly with the Hurricanes using an extra attacker with more than two minutes to play.
Jordan Staal opened the scoring with a goal for the Hurricanes, who struggled to score for large stretches of the game. Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots in Carolina’s net.
Kucherov’s best goal came from the top of the right corner.
Andersen had stopped Anthony Cirelli’s breakaway before Carolina’s penalty that led to the power play.
Staal scored 14:32 into the game, with Carolina freshman William Carrier getting his first point on an assist. Jordan Martinook’s extended forecheck for the Hurricanes helped orchestrate the scoring sequence.
The Lightning held a 9-6 edge in shots in the first period, and finally broke through in the second half. The point came on a power-play wrister at 2:33 with 12 seconds remaining on the extra-man advantage.
That happened with the first of three penalties of the second period called by the Hurricanes, who had to kill another penalty in the third.
The game marked rookie winger Jackson Blake’s first with the Hurricanes. He was the only team player on the opening night lineup.
The teams were supposed to meet in a rematch Saturday night in Tampa, but that game was postponed due to the ongoing recovery efforts in Florida related to Hurricane Milton. The home states of both teams have faced a storm in recent weeks.
–Field Level Media
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