Kucherov scores twice, Lightning rally past Canucks
Tampa Bay improves to 5-0-0 at home; Vancouver loses seventh straight
By Corey Long
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov scored twice to rally the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.
Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Point had two assists for the Lightning (6-2-0), who are 5-0-0 at home this season. Dennis Hildeby made 12 saves.
"We stuck to the system and put pucks to the net," Kucherov said. "Good things happened."
Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks (2-7-1), who have lost seven straight (0-6-1), including all six on their road trip. Kevin Lankinen made 31 saves.
"The execution of details within our game, things that we've continuously talked about that are just non-negotiable," Vancouver coach Many Malhotra said. "We need to have them to be able to be successful. Getting in shot lanes, being tougher around our net, face-off details. We continue to learn the lesson the hard way that when you don't do those things, pucks end up in the back of your net."
Karlsson gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 15:32 of the first period, scoring on a slap shot from the top of the right circle.
Petterson's power-play goal at 4:35 of the second period extended the Canucks lead to 2-0. After Hildeby turned away a one-timer from Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Petterson gathered the puck and scored on a sharp angle shot from the goal line.
"It feels like most of the games we have some good stretches, but it's not good enough," Karlsson said. "They had so many Grade-As, I don't think we helped the goalie enough. It doesn't look good. We need 60 good minutes next game."
Kucherov got Tampa Bay on the board with a power-play goal at 6:30 to make it 2-1, scoring on a follow-up shot from the right circle after Lankinen saved his initial shot.
"The puck went in for (Kucherov) tonight," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "He really has that shooter's mentality going on right now and I love it. That's how pucks go in the net, especially for guys like him."
Kucherov tied it 2-2 at 11:23 with a snap shot from the left side off of a face-off win from Point.
"I don't want to nitpick our team, as the season is still in its infancy, but you find little holes in your game," Cooper said. "(Face-offs) were clearly a point of emphasis for us tonight, and they did a good job tonight."
Guentzel gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 2:04 of the third period when he scored on a shot from the point that deflected off of Canucks forward Liam Ohgren's stick and caught Lankinen out of position.
Pontus Holmberg pushed the lead to 4-2 at 15:57 when he took the puck off of Zemgus Girgensons' offensive zone face-off win and skated in front of the goal, scoring on a shot below the hash marks.
"Even when it was 2-0 for them, I thought we deserved maybe a better result," Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous said. "But we just kept playing and I think the best team won tonight."
NOTES: Kucherov's two points gave him 1,134, tying Marian Hossa for 65th in NHL history. ... Lightning forward Brandon Hagel had an assist and has points in six of his past seven games (six goals, five assists). ... Pettersson's power-play goal was his 65th, tying Greg Adams for 10th most in Canucks history.
