With the game tied 3-3 at the end of the third period, perhaps the biggest moment of the game came at the start of overtime with the Bolts down a man and forced to kill off 1:45 of a 4-on-3 power play for the Kraken.
Tampa Bay successfully got the penalty killed off and got the game-winning goal from their most valuable player in Kucherov. And while Kucherov was the one who ended the game, a lot of the credit has to go to Hagel, who used his speed and tenacity to generate a Grade-A scoring chance for the NHL’s leading goal scorer.
Taking the puck in his own end at the left circle in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy, Hagel turned on the jets and skated towards the right wall. Accelerating past Matty Beniers in the neutral zone, Hagel continued to fly forward and fought through a stick check of Jordan Eberle near the Kraken blue line.
Flying into the Seattle zone, Hagel sent a perfect backhand pass right through the skates of Vince Dunn and onto the tape of Kucherov, who beat Daccord with his 19th tally of the year to earn the crucial second point for the Lightning.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was back between the pipes for Tampa Bay and earned his fourth win of the season with 26 saves on 29 shots against.
Victor Hedman did not return to the bench to start the third period and missed the remainder of the contest.
Bolts by the Numbers
- Anthony Cirelli scored his third game-opening goal of the season, tying Nikita Kucherov (3) for the Lightning team lead.
- Cirelli extended his point streak to a season-long four games (4-2—6) and has scored five goals over his last eight contests.
- Nikita Kucherov scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season to pass Brock Boeser and Auston Matthews (18 each) to take over the NHL lead in goals.
- With his 28th helper of the season, Kucherov passed Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes to take over the NHL lead in assists.
- Kucherov continues to pace all NHL skaters in points and is up to 47 (19-28—47) through just 28 games.
Bolts Quotes
- Jon Cooper: “In the end, it came down to a massive penalty kill for us in overtime and then, as I said, the big boys made some plays. I just loved the character in the guys and how we pulled this one out.”
- Nikita Kucherov: “We just have to play our game. We can't give up the lead that we had. As I've said before, we've got to play better and consistent. We didn't do it today. We have tobuild from a win, but definitely have to play a lot better.”
- Jon Cooper on Nikita Kucherov: “Even the year he was the MVP, he's been better this year. His attentiveness at both ends of the ice. I don't know, he's just a hell of a player.”
- Nick Paul: “When adversity hits us, what do we do? Do we rise to the occasion or do we fold? That's huge for our team when adversity hits to come up big like that. Everyone's laying it on the line and stepping up to the plate and wanting to be the guy. Everything we do is for the team and it showed there at the end.”
- Nick Paul on Brandon Hagel’s assist on the OT GWG: “He hit the speed boost there. A little Need for Speed action, hit the NOS. Beat him wide and then unbelievable backhand pass to Kuch and Kuch isn't going to make no mistake around there.”
