Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov produced three-point games Saturday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Nashville Predators in a 6-2 victory.
The Lightning captain and Kucherov each scored and two assists, with Kucherov finding the back of the net for the fifth straight game.
Victor Hedman had a marker and an assistant, and Anthony Cirelli, Ross Colton and Pat Maroon teamed up for Lightning (48-22-8, 104 points). Reserve goalkeeper Brian Elliott stopped 19 shots.
By triumphing its season-long five-game home game (4-1-0), Tampa Bay won for the ninth time in its last 11 games (9-2-0) against the Western Conference club.
Predators (44-29-5, 93 points) were scored by defenders Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier. Juuse Saros gave up all six goals on 30 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by David Rittich, who made nine saves.
In their first meeting since Lightning’s 3-2 win over the Stadium Series match outside of Nashville on February 26, Tampa Bay came into the rematch with an early lead.
With Hedman at the point, the great defender blew home 1:51 into the first period. His 20th goal extended the Swedish blue liner’s career height.
After Mikhail Sergachev’s theft in the neutral zone and pass to Cirelli to start a break, the fast forward rushed in and scored his 17th goal in 10:59 for a 2-0 lead.
Josi scored his 21st goal – extending the defender’s highest career to 90 points – in Nashville’s second powerplay, but Kucherov equalized with his 21st in the final seconds of the first period to a 3-1 lead.
On his fourth powerplay, another Nashville defender found the net when Carrier scored his third goal by finishing a sharp pass from Philip Tomasino at 10:42 p.m.
However, Stamkos responded just as Kucherov did to regain the two-goal lead, blasting his 35th from just below the left circle in 13:58.
Early in the third, Colton and Maroon scored 31 seconds apart for the only matches in the frame.
–Field Level Media
Source: sn.dk