CALGARY, Alberta — Nikita Kucherov had a goal and five assists, Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 8-3 on Thursday night.
Brayden Point had a goal and three assists and Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Conor Geekie also scored for Tampa Bay, which was without captain Victor Hedman with a lower-body injury.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary.
Tampa Bay scored four unanswered goals to lead 4-1 with two power-play goals from Cirelli and Point, a breakaway goal from Kucherov and Guentzel’s first goal of the night.
Kadri and Zary countered to pull the Flames within one, but Hagel struck just 43 seconds into the third period to swing the momentum to the Lightning again. Tampa Bay poured it on with two goals by Guentzel and one from Geekie.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, who became the first Lightning goalie to play 500 games, made 19 saves in the win. The 30-year-old holds the record for most wins (306) by an NHL goalie in their first 500 games.
Flames goaltender Dan Vladar stopped 18 shots in his second straight start.
Lightning: Unrattled by the sudden absence of Hedman, Tampa Bay’s forward depth overwhelmed Calgary.
Flames: A penalty kill that had shown flashes of improvement — going 6 for 6 in two road games— regressed to 0 for 3, including goals on back-to-back Tampa Bay power plays in the second period.
Two power-play goals in the second period gave the Lightning a 4-1 lead and had the Flames chasing.
Point stretched his point streak to four straight games with three goals and 10 assists in that span.
The Lightning are at the Kraken on Saturday night to wrap up a four-game trip out West, the same night the Flames host the Panthers.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
