Kucherov extends point streak to 11, lifts Lightning past Penguins

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves to help the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

Anthony Cirelli scored, and Victor Hedman had two assists for the Lightning (12-10-5), who won 4-0 against the Dallas Stars on Monday and begin a five-game road trip Thursday at the Nashville Predators.

“It’s been great; that’s what you’re looking for in your team, realizing that you’re not going to have to score your way out to win games and if you play some responsible defense, good things are going to happen,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said of the past two games. And when we break down, the big guy’s (Vasilevskiy) back there to bail us out.”

Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins (11-11-3), who lost their third straight game (0-1-2) after consecutive losses to the Philadelphia Flyers. Tristan Jarry made 24 saves.

"We waited the first period, the first ten minutes to start playing our game," Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin said. "Tonight they scored three goals, and then we started playing our game. We need everyone to start right away. The puck drops at 7:10 and we should start playing. In the third period, we played with more pressure and started to shoot more."

Cirelli gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:56 of the first period with a redirect from the slot off a shot by Hedman. Kucherov got the secondary assist, extending his point streak to 11 games and setting a Lightning record with an assist in 11 straight games.

Kucherov extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 8:31 of the second period, a one-timer from the right circle off a pass by Hedman.

"I'm trying to play responsible in the zone and help the guys out," Kucherov said. "When I have the chance, I'm scoring."

Tanner Jeannot scored at 17:04 to make it 3-0 when he put in a rebound off a shot by Michael Eyssimont.

"We know what we need to do to be successful, and we've been working on being smarter with the puck in the neutral zone," Jeannot said. "I think we've done a good job of that the past two games. [Vasilevskiy] has looked like the best goalie in the world. We just have to keep building our game and help him out."

Guentzel scored with 53 seconds left in the third period for the 3-1 final when his shot went in off the skate of Lightning forward Nicholas Paul after Vasilevskiy misplayed the puck behind the net.

"I thought we had opportunities, especially in the 1st period, to put pucks at the net and we didn't," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We're looking for lateral plays and they never materialized. We're trying to encourage them to put the puck at the net more."

Pittsburgh continued its slump on the power play, going 0-for-4, including a two-man advantage for 39 seconds with 4:08 left in the third. The Penguins have failed to score on their past 34 power plays.

"I don't think we're necessarily trying to be too cute, if anything maybe a little hesitant," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. "We've got to play on our toes a little more.

NOTES: Penguins forward Bryan Rust left the game late in the second period. Sullivan said he was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. ...Crosby got his 964th assist, tied with Doug Gilmour for 14th in NHL history. He won 19 of 27 face-offs (70.4 percent). ... Guentzel had a game-high 14 shot attempts (five on goal). ... Cirelli has three goals in the past two games after scoring just twice in November. ... Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blocked seven shots in 24:17 of ice time.