Nikita Kucherov’s hat-trick leads Lightning past Hurricanes

Nikita Kucherov scored a hat trick in the final nine minutes and the Tampa Bay Lightning won 4-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes in both teams’ season opener on Friday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Brayden Point scored Tampa Bay’s first goal, with Kucherov assisting on the goal. Kucherov added two empty-net goals, including the last with 16 seconds remaining.

The Lightning’s first two goals came on the power play.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning, who responded quickly with the Hurricanes using an extra attacker with over two minutes to play.

Jordan Staal opened the scoring with a goal for the Hurricanes, who had trouble finding sustained offense for large portions of the game. Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots in Carolina’s net.

Kucherov’s go-ahead goal came with a blast from the top of the right circle.

Anderson stopped Anthony Cirelli’s breakaway before a Carolina penalty that led to a power play.

Staal scored 14:32 into the game, with Carolina newcomer William Carrier scoring his first points with an assist. Jordan Martinook’s extended fore-checking for the Hurricanes helped set up the scoring sequence.

The Lightning held a 9-6 lead in shots in the first period, and they finally broke through in the second period. Point scored on a power-play wrister just 12 seconds into the period on the extra-man advantage at 2:33.

It was the first of three second period penalties called against the Hurricanes, who had to commit another in the third.

This game marked the debut for rookie winger Jackson Blake with the Hurricanes. He was the team’s only rookie in the opening-night lineup.

The teams were scheduled to meet in a rematch Saturday night in Tampa, but that game has been postponed due to ongoing recovery efforts related to Hurricane Milton in Florida. The home states of both teams have been struggling to recover from hurricanes in recent weeks.

–Field Level Media