TAMPA, Fla.– In a heavyweight bout between the NHL’s top-two leaders in points, Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning prevailed over Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 as both teams went blow-for-blow Thursday at Amalie Arena.
“There’s a lot of exceptional players in this league, and then there’s the cream of the crop. You saw a whole group of them in that game tonight,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “Players clearly know when they’re going against these guys, and I thought everybody showed well.”
Both teams entered the evening second in their respective divisions, and on the individual level, Kucherov held a three-point lead over MacKinnon with 90 for the league lead.
However, the Colorado center would land the first punch and help put the Avalanche on the board first.
Scoreless through the first 10 minutes of the game, momentum began to lean in favor of the Avalanche as MacKinnon was called for a high-sticking penalty when he caught Tampa Bay’s Luke Glendening in the face with his stick, only for it to be overturned after review.
Just over three minutes later, Colorado got on the board. A scrum against the boards in the Avalanche zone squirted out to MacKinnon. The All-Star captain gave a short pass to Mikko Rantanen, who threaded the needle to defenseman Bowen Byram, cutting toward the net. Byram lifted the shot over Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s blocker for the goal.
Tampa Bay was not pleased after Colorado took the 1-0 lead, especially with the referees missing Byram grabbing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel from behind, allowing him to get ahead of the defense for the score on the assists by Rantanen and MacKinnon.
However, the lead for the Avalanche would not hold for long as the bounces began to go Tampa Bay’s way.
With under three minutes left in the first period, Kucherov merely tried to dump the puck around the boards behind the Colorado net, but the puck took a funky bounce off the wall, trickling right in front of the net for Lightning center Brayden Point. Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard attempted to clear the puck, but Point deflected it off his body and into the top of the net to complete the wacky play and tie the game.
A minute and seven seconds later, Tampa Bay found a much more routine way to score. The Lightning did a good job of keeping possession following a Hagel shot-on-goal, where the left winger quickly found Kucherov from his slot on the right side of the ice. The lone 2024 All-Star for the Lightning buried the shot, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
“Anytime you’re on the ice with [Kucherov] and Point, usually good things happen,” said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. “So you just try to put the puck in the right spots and be in the right spots.”
The game of inches continued into the second period, where the Avalanche found their response from Byram again.
Vasilevskiy saved a backhand shot by Colorado’s Ross Colton but never corralled it to freeze the puck. Byram fought to get to the puck resting by the Lightning goalie’s left skate and slid it into the net for his second goal of the night and just the eighth of the year.
The game remained tied at two into the second intermission, but Colorado would regain the lead after a Kucherov penalty early in the third period.
As the power play expired, MacKinnon sent a wrister towards the net, which Arturri Lehkonen tipped in to give the Avalanche a 3-2 advantage with 16:20 left in regulation on the second goal of the night, which MacKinnon contributed to.
But like any great boxing match, the Lightning had their counterpunch ready.
Just 20 seconds later, Stamkos received a long pass across both blue lines from Kucherov to set up a breakaway. The lightning captain deked the Colorado goaltender Justus Annuen and wrapped the puck around his leg from his forehand to even it again.
The Lightning core of Stamkos, Point, and Kucherov weren’t satisfied with just tying the score.
About four minutes later in the game, Stamkos fed a pass into Point in front of the net, who quickly gave a backhand pass across the crease with his back turned to a wide-open Kucherov on the right side. Kucherov buried the shot up top to give Tampa Bay the lead for good.
“I’ve watched 55 of those. He’s just been committed every single game,” said Cooper. “The way he works all over the ice, he’s just a gifted, gifted player.”
The Tampa Bay defense would prevent Colorado from scoring over the final 11:47 of the game, with Anthony Cirelli and Nick Perbix each recording an empty-net goal to put the finishing touches on an impressive win to extend the Lightning win streak to three. Colorado’s loss left them 1-5 on their road trip to begin play after the All-Star break.
“We beat some pretty good teams here and competed against good teams,” said Point. “I think we’re starting to build that confidence where we got a good stretch at home here.”
Kucherov extended his point total on the season to 93 with his performance, while MacKinnon still trails with 89. The Lightning continue their homestand against the Florida Panthers on Saturday.