Kucherov Helps Lightning Benefit from The Sharks With 2 Goals

VIDEO: Nikita Kucherov – The Best of. Watch Video Below..

During the 2013–14 season, on November 25, 2013, with his first shot, on his first shift, against Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, Kucherov became the seventh player in Lightning history to score a goal in his NHL debut. On October 28, 2014, he recorded his first career hat trick against Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes.

The biggest question mark for the Lightning is goaltender Ben Bishop. He stopped 24 of 26 shots before leaving the game with 11:10 remaining after being hit in the mask by Sharks forward Tomas Hertl’s stick as Hertl battled with Tampa Bay’sJ.T. Brown in front of the crease.

“When guys are hurt, you’re a little bit frantic of what happened, but I think he’s going to be OK,” Cooper said. “It’s just a little bit of a scare. I think the stick went into his mask, but he should be OK. I saw him after. He’s got a little cut on the side of his eye. He wears contacts, too, so I think something got lodged there. So that was probably a little bit of an issue.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop and gave up one goal on eight shots.

“Obviously you fear for the vision, but he seems to be in decent spirits,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “Just a scary thing. Hopefully he’s OK. [Vasilevskiy] gets thrown into the fire with them coming. A couple power plays. He made some big saves for us.”

During the 2014-15 NHL season Kucherov had a breakout season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kucherov posted 29 goals, 36 assists, and 65 points. Kucherov also tied for the NHL lead in plus-minus with Max Pacioretty at a +38 rating. The +38 rating also set the Lightning single season franchise record for +/- rating.

On May 20, 2015, Kucherov joined Martin St. Louis as the only players in Lightning history to record two game winning goals in overtime in a single playoff year, having scored a winner that evening against the New York Rangers; he had scored one in Game 1 of the prior round against the Montreal Canadiens.

Matt Tennyson, Joel Ward and Brent Burns scored power-play goals for the Sharks (14-12-0). Backup goaltender Alex Stalock, who started for the sixth time this season, allowed four goals on 20 shots.

Boyle scored what proved to be the winning goal when he knocked in a rebound at 3:01 of the third period to make it 4-1. Brown made the goal possible, racing past Sharks defenseman Justin Braun along the left boards, angling toward the crease and firing a shot. Stalock made the save, but the puck trickled a few inches left of the crease and Boyle tapped it over the goal line.

“I thought I had it,” Stalock said. “Even the defenders thought I had it. It was a tough bounce.”

Ward cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 at 8:28, redirecting Burns’ shot from the point past Bishop. Burns made it a one-goal game at 14:32, beating Vasilevskiy with a blast from the left circle.

But the two late goals weren’t enough to overcome a bad start.

“The first period we only gave them six shots but we spotted them two goals,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “You do that and you’re going to be in trouble. We fought back but too little, too late. I like our fight for playing in a hole all night. We held them to 20 shots. That’s a good effort by the whole group of defensemen.”

The Sharks were without Marc-Edouard Vlasic, their top shutdown defenseman, who was out with a lower-body injury.Mirco Mueller replaced Vlasic in the lineup, and Brenden Dillon skated with Braun, Vlasic’s usual partner.

San Jose went 3-for-8 on the power play, setting a season high for man-advantage goals and matching its high for attempts.

“We’ve had games when we only got one or two chances,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “It’s good to see it coming around. It can create momentum.”

The Lightning grabbed a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period on Kucherov’s seventh goal of the season. Kucherov skated around Burns with a slick move in the slot and put the puck past defenseman Paul Martin and Stalock.

“Just got lucky,” Kucherov said.

Condra made it 2-0 at 11:20 with his third goal of the season and first since Oct. 20. Andrej Sustr sent the puck from the right boards toward the low slot, and it ricocheted off Condra’s left skate and past Stalock. The goal stood after a video review determined that Condra did not use a distinct kicking motion.

The Sharks thought they had a goal at 11:55 of the second period when Mike Brown got the puck past Bishop while face down in the crease in a scrum. But the officials waved off the goal, ruling that Brown used his glove to knock the puck over the goal line. After a video review, the call stood.