Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman put it simply after Wednesday night’s 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
“Can’t have better starts than that and some highlight reel goals as well,” Hedman said. “We came out flying and that obviously laid a foundation for our win tonight.”
Hedman’s description of a “flying” start was no exaggeration–The Lightning scored three times in the game’s first six minutes with goals from Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel and Conor Geekie for a 3-0 early onslaught against the host Avalanche at Ball Arena.
Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season just 61 seconds into the game. Kucherov wound up for a slap shot from the high slot, sending a one-timer through Colorado goalie Kaapo Kahkonen off a pass from Brayden Point.
Kucherov earned an assist minutes later when the Russian forward skated the puck behind the right side of the Colorado net before reversing a pass to a waiting Guentzel near the right post.
“That was just unbelievable,” Guentzel said of the pass. “It’s just eyes in the back of his head, and you know, I had an open net. So just an unbelievable play by him.”
Geekie didn't wait long for his second goal of the 2024-25 campaign, as the rookie tapped home the final piece of a tic-tac-toe passing play with linemates Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel for the 3-0 lead 5:32 into the game.
Colorado scored the final goal of the first period thanks to an Ivan Ivan power-play deflection on a Cale Makar shot from the blueline with just over five minutes left in the period.
Wednesday’s start was key for the Lightning, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said postgame.
“It was a productive start, there’s no question about that. But this is a hard league to win in, especially on the road against a championship caliber team like that,” Cooper said. “And we want to get the lead for a reason, because like I said, it’s a tough league and it’s a tough league to come back in.“
Guentzel scored his second goal of the night for the lone marker by either team in the second period.
Kucherov fed Point for a shot from the top of the circles that bounced off the post to Guentzel, who buried the rebound behind Kahkonen for his second goal of the game. Kucherov finished with three points, Guentzel had his two goals and Point finished with two assists.
Makar helped Colorado push in the third period, as the home team outshot Tampa Bay 13-2. The defenseman’s sifting shot from the point cut Colorado’s deficit to two goals 10:57 into the final period before Cirelli and Hagel capped two-point nights with an empty net goal by Cirelli in the game’s final minutes.
“We were content on defending. We should’ve been pressing a little harder,” Cooper said of the third. “You know it’s probably not the greatest recipe the way we played that third, but tonight it was good enough.”
Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak was injured in the second period after a dangerous hit by Colorado forward Matt Stieburg, who was given a major penalty and a game misconduct. There was no update on Cernak’s status as of Monday night from Cooper, who called it a “tough” sequence.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy earned the 299th win of his NHL career with a 33-save performance to improve to 6-3-0 this season. Tampa Bay is now 7-3-0 on the year, good for second in the Atlantic Division.
The Bolts penalty kill successfully killed off the final three penalties of the night, including back-to-back calls in the second period.
Cooper said it was a “draining” night for both teams on the penalty kill, but he applauded his group for their consecutive kills.
“I thought that was a big step forward for our PK. Oftentimes it’s not all the ones you kill off, it’s when you kill them off,” Cooper said. “And that was a big moment for us.”
Up next for the Lightning on their four-game road trip is a visit to Minnesota on Friday. The Wild are 6-1-2 this season, a record that includes a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay on Oct. 24.
Benjamin's Three Stars:
1. Nikita Kucherov (1 goal, 2 assists)
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy (33 saves)
3. Jake Guentzel (2 goals)
