The Backcheck: Bolts open season with a victory in Raleigh

Nikita Kucherov climbed up the franchise record books with his natural hat trick and Andrei Vasilevskiy held strong in net as the Tampa Bay Lightning opened the 2024-25 season with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Kucherov scored the season opener’s game-winning goal at 11:06 of the third period on the power play, ripping a one-timer slap shot through Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen for a 2-1 lead. He added a pair of empty-net goals in the third period to earn his sixth career hat trick.

Kucherov’s power-play goal on Friday gave him 875 career points, passing Vincent Lecavalier for the third-most in franchise history. The hat trick was the sixth of his career, a number that ties him with Lecavalier for the third-most hat tricks in Lightning team history (Martin St. Louis 8, Steven Stamkos 13).

“I think we just played the right way and we executed the game plan,” Kucherov said of the win. “Obviously it’s the first one and a tough one against Carolina in Carolina. I’m happy with the win and I’m happy with how we played in the third and the whole game.”

The Lightning connected twice on the power play—once in the second period and again in the third—to down the hosts at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh despite trailing the Hurricanes 1-0 after the first period.

The Lightning dominated possession and shots in the first 15 minutes of the game, beginning with a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal before a turnover allowed Carolina captain Jordan Staal to open the scoring at 14:32 of the first period. Staal tapped home a wraparound pass from William Carrier in front of the net on the home team’s second shot of the game.

Carolina found some energy with the goal, but Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped numerous quality chances in the dying minutes of the first period to keep the Bolts’ deficit to a single goal.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper applauded his team’s “gamesmanship”, especially after a week that saw uncertainty in the approach of Hurricane Milton.

“I loved our start. … They probably leaned on us a little bit in the second. We bent, we didn’t break and then I thought we had an outstanding third. I think we gave up maybe one scoring chance in the entire third period, and that’s going in with a 1-1 game,” Cooper said.

"So, the gamesmanship of the group was excellent, especially when you take in everything we’ve had to go through for the past seven days, having to deal with two hurricanes during training camp and moving family and friends and everybody up here to stay here for a week just to prepare for a hockey game, especially when everything is going on at home. So, I’ve gotta give the guys a lot of credit. In the end I hope if people could watch us back in Tampa they’re proud of their team and what they saw tonight.”

Defenseman Victor Hedman finished with three assists in his first game as captain of the Lightning, and Vasilevskiy earned the victory by stopping 20 of 21 shots.

“I think we started very well. The first 15 (minutes) was fun to watch and then they kind of pushed back a little bit,” Hedman said Friday. “But we faced adversity and special teams came through. Vasy was great, especially the last five minutes of the first and the whole second period. He made some key saves for us, so just super proud of these guys.”

Brayden Point scored Tampa Bay’s first goal of the season 2:33 into the second period on the power play. Hedman found Kucherov in the corner, and the latter fed an open Point in the slot. Point pulled the puck to his right before depositing the puck off the crossbar and into the net, tying the game 1-1.

Kucherov said the crease is an area in which Point wreaks havoc upon opposing goalies.

“I think he is the best player in the league at that spot,” Kucherov said. “He can pick up any pass and put it in the net, and he was able to do it, so I am happy for him.”

The Hurricanes pushed back after Point’s goal and finished the second period by outshooting the visitors 11-4, but Vasilevskiy stopped every puck he faced in the frame. Vasilevskiy also helped the Lightning penalty kill erase all four of the Hurricanes’ power play opportunities on Friday.

“I thought he was our best player throughout the game,” Kucherov said of his goalie. “Vasy was being Vasy and when he’s on his game, we all have confidence. He’s the best goalie in the league. There is no question.”

Kucherov’s game winner took only six seconds of game time after Anthony Cirelli drew a Carolina hooking penalty.

Nick Paul won a faceoff on the power play before Kucherov tapped the puck back to Hedman, who returned the puck to Kucherov atop the faceoff circle. The winger one-timed a slap shot through Andersen’s glove side for his record-breaking first goal of the season and second point of the night.

Hedman called the power-play goals “timely”.

“It was huge,” he said. “Timely goals in the game and we want to keep producing. We’ve got some special players on the power play that can make things happen.”

With Point’s goal and Kucherov’s assist on Friday, the Lightning duo have now figured in on the team’s first goal of the season for three straight campaigns.

Kucherov tied Lecavalier’s scoring record with his assist on Point’s goal in the first period. His sixth career hat trick on Friday also tied Lecavalier for the third-most in Bolts history.

Offseason acquisition forward Jake Guentzel earned his first point as a Bolt with an assist on Kucherov’s first empty net goal at 17:53 of the third period. Guentzel got his second assist when Kucherov finished the hat trick with another empty net tally by sneaking behind the Carolina defense at 19:44.

Kucherov finished with three goals and one assist for four points after tallying seven points in two games against the Hurricanes in 2023-24.

Bolts by the Numbers
-Nikita Kucherov became the second player in franchise history to score a hat trick in a season opener, joining Chris Kontos—who scored four goals in the Lightning’s inaugural game in 1992. Kucherov joined Kontos and Joe Reekie (1992) as the only Lightning players to post a four-point night in a season opener. Kucherov became the fifth player in team history to score multiple natural hat tricks (also Feb. 27, 2017), joining Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, Freddy Modin and Martin St. Louis (all with two).

-Conor Geekie made his NHL debut for the Lightning, seeing 9:51 of ice time, recording one hit and winning two of eight faceoffs.

-Jake Guentzel scored his first point for the Lightning in a game he finished with two assists, 17:56 of ice time, two shots on goal and one blocked shot.

-Captain Victor Hedman recorded three assists in Friday’s season opener. Hedman has 17 career points in season openers, trailing only Steven Stamkos (18).

-Erik Cernak & Nick Paul also recorded their first assists of the season. Cernak picked up the secondary helper on Tampa Bay’s third goal and Paul tallied the secondary assist on Kucherov’s go-ahead goal.

-Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 21 shots to earn his first win of the 2024-25 season. Vasilevskiy now has 294 career wins, six away from becoming the 40th goalie in NHL history to reach 300 career wins.

Lightning Look Ahead
The Lightning are scheduled to host the Vancouver Canucks at 7 p.m. ET this Tuesday at AMALIE Arena.