Nikita Kucherov, Lightning notch comeback win over Golden Knights
Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game with 55 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 win against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
Kucherov took a shot from just above the goal line that hit the skate of Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague and went into his own net.
The Lightning had tied the score 3-3 with 2:22 left when Brandon Hagel found an opening coming down the middle off the rush and scored with a wrist shot.
Janis Moser had a goal and two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the Lightning, who improved to 3-0-0.
Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev scored, Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore had two assists apiece and Adin Hill made 21 saves for the Golden Knights.
Both teams scored twice in the opening period.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at 5:26. The Golden Knights won the puck back on the forecheck, Eichel got the puck out of the corner to Mark Stone in the right circle and he fed McNabb at the left point. McNabb had room to skate into the slot and fire the puck past Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay tied it 1-1 at 10:21 when Cameron Atkinson made a long pass off the boards on a rush and it caromed to Moser, who held off Vegas forward Brett Howden before beating Hill.
The Golden Knights moved back in front 2-1 at 15:20 when Dorofeyev scored on a one-timer from the right circle while on a power play.
The Lightning managed to tie it back up with 13 seconds left in the period when Kucherov and Jake Guentzel sprung loose for a 2-on-1 break and Kucherov finished off Guentzel's feed to tie it 2-2.
Barbashev scored the lone goal of the second period at 1:59 to give Vegas a 3-2 lead.
Theodore carried the puck into the Tampa Bay zone and behind its net. He tried to pass the puck out front to Eichel, but it went off the skates of Moser and teammate Anthony Cirelli and was redirected to a wide-open Barbashev, who swiped the puck between Vasilevskiy's pads and across the goal line.
