By Michael Wax
The Lightning found a way to beat the Golden Knights 5-3. Here's how they stacked up:
Duclair-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Stamkos
Eyssimont-Paul-Sheary
Motte-Glendening-Chaffee
Hedman-Raddysh
Perbix-Cernak
de Haan-Dumba
Vasilevskiy
Here are three things we noticed from the game:
Just another ho-hum day at the office for Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov had yet another four-point game, his seventh game this season with four or more points. Up to 118 points this season, he once again surpassed Nathan McKinnon to retake the lead in the NHL scoring race. The most interesting part about this game was that Kucherov didn't seem to take over at any point; he was just consistently in the right places and making the right place to get himself those four points and get the Lightning a victory.
Kucherov's most impressive points were undoubtedly his two assists to Brayden Point. The first assist was a small play along the boards on the power play to get the puck over the Point, who rifled it home for his 37th goal of the year.
The second goal was a highlight reel type of assist, firing the puck from his own blue line off the boards in the Vegas zone at a speed in which only Point could get to it, and #21 fired at home for his second goal of the period to give the lightning a permanent lead.
After a meddling stretch where he *only* put up five points in five games, these past three games have been otherworldly from Koch, putting up three goals and an assist for 11 points in three games, all but two of which have come at even strength. It will be a photo finish for the 2024 Art Rose trophy between Kucherov, MacKinnon, and McDavid, but the way that Kucherov is playing, no one can really bet against him.
Healthy Cat
We talked at length about Andre Vasilevskiy and how he was the reason the Lightning was able to hold onto a 4-0 lead against Florida. His job was much less chaotic in this one, but his objective was ultimately the same: get the Lightning two points and get out. The stats don't look great, as he allowed three goals on 27 shots for a .889 percentage, but he put together another solid performance to keep the Lightning ahead of the Golden Knights for the entire game.
You look at the three goals he allowed, and it's easy to see why the numbers can be misleading. Just 1:13 into the game, the Lightning gave up a 2-on-1 that quickly turned into a 3-on-1. Some pretty passing gave Johnathan Marchessault a wide-open net to look at, as Darren Raddysh didn't choose to block off the shot or the pass on the play and ultimately ended up costing the Lightning. With the Bolts up 2-1, yet another odd-man rush, and while this time Raddysh did choose the pass, Brett Howden was able to find some space over a Vasilevskiy, unsure what was going to happen thanks to the goal from earlier in the game. On the 3-3 goal, Steven Stamkos and Erik Cernak collided with one another and blocked off half the paint. Had they been standing, that shot likely wouldn't have gone in due to Vasilevskiy getting over one of the two blocking the shot.
During the Jonas Johannson starting period in October and November, we talked a lot about how the stats were misleading because of how poor the defense was. And while the record has certainly gotten better for the Lightning recently, the mistakes that they're making still leave a lot to be desired to clean up their game in time for April.
Blackjack
When in Vegas, you're always hoping to get 21 on your first hand for blackjack. Luckily for the Lightning, they had a 21 on their own that helped them steer themselves to four consecutive victories and the sixth win in their past seven road games.
Brayden Point has been scorching hot lately, with six goals and 10 points in just four games and an average ice time of just over 18 minutes. We've already talked about his goals, but the second one deserves another look. It takes a certain amount of speed to be able to fly from your own blue line into the Vegas zone, negate icing, and put together a quick shot to fool the goaltender all in one motion to give the Lightning a permanent lead, all of which Brayden point was able to do with relative ease.
Earlier this year, it did look like Point was struggling to find some consistency, and while he would probably put up 30 to 35 goals again, another 50-goal season would probably be too much to ask for. With 10 goals in his last 10 games, Point is making that challenge a little bit more believable, and even if he only reaches 45, it would still be a very successful season for someone who has had their ups and downs.
PK? No Way
It's time to give the penalty kill their flowers after yet another unreal performance.
Once again, the Lightning have a top-10 penalty kill in the league through 68 games. Over the past month, though, the Lightning have sent their penalty hill into absolute overdrive. At a clip of 87.5%, the Bolts hold the second-best penalty kill over the past month, only trailing the Carolina Hurricanes by two percentage points. In this one against Vegas, who granted does not have a great power-play, the Lightning were not only able to kill out penalties but found themselves scoring at the disadvantage.
It's not often that you get a 2-on-0 on a penalty kill. But Anthony Cirelli and Brendan Hagel, one of the most underrated duos on the team, especially in penalty-killing, had a golden opportunity. After two passes, Cirelli hammered home, the one time to tie the game for the Lightning and give them a breath of life after an admittedly tough start to the game that saw a goal from Vegas very early and then a penalty taken for too many men on the ice.
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