Nikita Kucherov started the 2024-2025 season with a bang.
The Tampa Bay Lightning star forward scored a hat trick, in addition to collecting an assist, in a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
The Russian took care of the Canes single-handedly in the final third. In a massive attack, he broke a 1-1 tie with a stunning one-timer from the top of the right circle.
Trailing by a goal, Rod Brind’Amour withdrew his goalkeeper Frederik Andersen in favor of a sixth attacker. Kucherov, however, took the opportunity to score twice in an abandoned cage to secure the victory for his team.
Aged 31, Kucherov got his hands on the Art Ross Trophy for the second time in his career last year. In 81 games, Kucherov led the Bettman circuit with 144 points, including 100 assists.
Jordan Staal had nevertheless opened the scoring in the first period. The Hurricanes captain took advantage of a nice pass from William Carrier to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Brayden Point provided the answer during a five-man attack in the middle period. Point completed a nice passing play orchestrated by Victor Hedman and Kucherov and tied the game. Hedman stood out in this meeting with three assists. In his first game with Tampa, Jake Guentzel collected two assists on Kucherov’s last two goals.
Vasilevskiy signed the victory by stopping 20 pucks. Andersen allowed two goals on 21 shots.
The Lightning were scheduled to play their first game in front of their fans on Saturday against the same Hurricanes, but the meeting was postponed to a later date due to Hurricane Milton.
The Jets play a nasty trick on the Hawks
Mark Scheifele played the hero in overtime and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1.
After winning a faceoff in overtime, Scheifele escaped the coverage of Philipp Kurashev and redirected a Kyle Connor pass past Arvid Soderblom.
None of this would have happened if Scheifele had not forced an overtime period, with only 64 seconds remaining in the third period.
This two-goal performance allowed Scheifele to reach the plateau of 300 successes in the NHL.
Ryan Donato scored the only goal for the Blackhawks, who lost a second straight game.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 pucks for the Manitoba team. Soderblom finished the game with 34 saves for the visitors.
