Kucherov scores twice for Lightning in win against Blues

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov scored twice for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Kucherov is third in the NHL with 22 goals and leads the League with 54 points. He has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past five games.

Nicholas Paul had a goal and two assists, Steven Stamkos had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning (15-13-5), who have won two of three.

"We have to simplify our game, it sounds like a cliché," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "When you do those things, you're hoping to put teams under duress, making the game a little more unpredictable in their defensive zone. If you're around it and shooting enough, good things usually happen."

Justin Faulk scored, and Jordan Binnington allowed five goals on 23 shots before being pulled in the second period for the Blues (15-15-1), who lost for the first time under coach Drew Bannister (2-1-0). Joel Hofer made nine saves in relief.

"It was a poor start, and we weren't able to get any kind of forecheck," Bannister said. "I think we had 10-13 turnovers in the [defensive] zone and 10 turnovers in the offensive zone.

"Biggest thing that stuck out to me is that it was too easy to get pucks to our net. We weren't willing to get into shooting lanes. We didn't get sticks into shooting lanes."

Michael Eyssimont gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:23 of the first period on a deflection of Tanner Jeannot’s shot for his fifth goal of the season.

Tyler Motte made it 2-0 at 17:10 when he pushed the puck past Binnington during a scramble in front.

"Motte scored kind of a junkyard-type goal, which is great for us; we need some of those," Cooper said. "Guys are doing the right things. Eventually you keep doing that and things are going to work out for you."

Kucherov pushed the lead to 3-0 at 19:46, sending a wrist shot past Binnington from above the right face-off circle. He scored again at 1:36 of the second period with another wrist shot from the right circle to make it 4-0.

Fleury scored his first goal of the season at 12:13 with a slap shot from the point to give the Lightning a 5-0 lead.

"It's always nice to contribute and it's nice to win at home," Fleury said. "Anytime you can take pressure off of ‘Kuch,’ ‘Stammer,’ (Brayden Point) and get some secondary scoring, I think that's what good teams do."

Binnington was pulled after Fleury’s goal.

"You've got to find a way to tilt the ice and stop the bleeding early, and we weren't able to do that tonight," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "Yeah we had some chances, but we only had [18] shots going into the third period."

Paul made it 6-0 at 7:53 of the third when he redirected a feed from Stamkos for a power-play goal.

Faulk scored with a wrist shot from beyond the circles for a power-play goal at 15:56 for the 6-1 final. It was his first goal of the season.

"I think a big message to us was to simplify the game," Paul said. "Work hard, win battles, get pucks to the net and win battles in front of the net. We weren't getting enough bodies in front, but tonight we got bodies in front and the goalie couldn't see the puck."

NOTES: Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev left the game at the end of the first after blocking a shot and was seen leaving the arena with his left foot in a boot. Cooper said he expects to have an update Wednesday. ... Kucherov has 16 multipoint games this season. … It was Stamkos’ 99th three-point game in the NHL. ... Fleury was plus-4 in 22:32 of ice time. … Faulk had not scored since April 4 of last season against the Philadelphia Flyers.