Friday Four: Kucherov powering Lightning to historic pace

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will bring you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

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Tampa Bay Lightning

Andrei Vasilevskiy set a Lightning record with 54 saves in
a 5-4 overtime win
against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Then the Lightning went on the road Thursday and
won 6-3
against a Carolina Hurricanes team that was home waiting for them. It's absolutely incredible to play that well and not have a letdown after a big game against the Capitals.
Nikita Kucherov had an assist Thursday to give him 120 points (37 goals, 83 assists) this season. No one has had that many in the NHL since Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins had 120 in 2006-07.

With 58 wins, the Lightning need five in their final seven games to set the NHL record for wins in a season, passing the 62 wins of the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, and I think they can do it.

Montreal Canadiens

What a year it's been for Brendan Gallagher. He's willing to go to the dirty areas of the ice, and as a result has tied his NHL career high in goals with 31. Gallagher, along with Max Domi, Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Drouin, have been the offensive leaders and are a reason the Canadiens are surprisingly where they are in the standings.

Carey Price made 28 saves in a
4-0 win
against the New York Islanders on Thursday to move Montreal ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Price has allowed six goals in his past five starts, after he allowed eight in a loss against the Anaheim Ducks on March 8. He's playing like he will carry the Canadiens on his back in order for them to make the playoffs, and he may have to.

Vegas Golden Knights

With goalie Marc-Andre Fleury out with a lower-body injury, Malcolm Subban has come in and won three straight games, including a
5-0 shutout
against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

The Golden Knights have won 10 of 11 games since acquiring forward Mark Stone in a trade with the Ottawa Senators, and Stone has eight points (four goals, four assists) in that span. But he's not the only player going at a blistering pace. Reilly Smith has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists), and Jonathan Marchessault (four goals, eight assists), William Karlsson (four goals, eight assists) and Paul Stastny (three goals, nine assists) each has 12 points.
Vegas likely won't win the Pacific Division like they did last season -- they're 10 points behind the Calgary Flames with eight games remaining -- but the Golden Knights will be a tough out for anyone come playoff time.

Colorado Avalanche

They had a big
3-1 win
against the Dallas Stars on Thursday, but can they get into the playoffs? Goalie Philipp Grubauer has played well and is doing his part. He made 44 saves Thursday and is 5-2-0 with three shutouts in his past seven starts. He has outplayed Semyon Varlamov and should be the go-to guy for the remainder of the season.

Colorado is tied with the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card in the West, and forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen have been holding it down in the absence of captain Gabriel Landeskog. The Avalanche have won three straight games but have a tough schedule down the stretch including back-to-back games with the Chicago Blackhawks this weekend.

Honorable mention

I think Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars, Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vasilevskiy and Fleury are the four goalies in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy, and three of them will be named finalists.
Speaking of goalies, congrats to Jimmy Howard of the Red Wings on
signing a one-year contract
Wednesday. Detroit also reportedly is close to signing coach Jeff Blashill to a contract beyond this season.
The Boston Bruins continued to roll with
a 5-1 win
against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, their third straight win. Patrice Bergeron had two goals including his 30th of the season, Brad Marchand had three assists and David Pastrnak, who returned from a thumb injury, had a goal and an assist. Boston is playing well at the perfect time.