Russian car! Kucherov scored 6 (!) points in an NHL game that has already become legendary

Russian car! Kucherov scored 6 (!) points in an NHL game that has already become legendary

Elena Kuznetsova November 25, 2023, 09:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Nikita participated in Carolina’s loss and took the lead in the NHL scoring race.

Before the game with Carolina, Tampa received the long-awaited news: Andrei Vasilevsky returns! The Russian goalkeeper underwent surgery for a lumbar hernia at the end of September and missed the first 20 games of the season and in total he spent more than 200 days without playing. His debut this season came in an away game against Carolina.

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“He hasn’t played since April and I know he’s really looking forward to getting started. He had worked hard, he had done everything possible, that date had been marked on the calendar months ago and that day had arrived. The performance of the goalkeepers was not our problem, they give us the opportunity to win. But we didn’t play consistently: we played for 30 minutes and then we didn’t play for 30 minutes. We played 53 minutes, but not seven. But we have more wins than losses, without the excellent goalkeeper this would not have happened,” said John Cooper before the match.

Vasilevsky’s return was supposed to spark a surge of mental strength in the team, and that’s what happened in the end, but not in the first half. Tampa was content with just one shot on goal in the first 20 minutes, and at the end of the period they conceded a goal, but only to put on a power-play masterclass in the second period.

“Carolina forgot that Tampa’s power play is the second-strongest in the league, and they started the second period with a series of completely unnecessary kills. “We played the first half perfectly, that’s exactly how we wanted to play. Then they started getting bad eliminations, and the opponent does just that: he sits back and waits for the majority. And they made us pay for it,” Rod Brindamour said after the game.

Tampa’s killer majority worked like clockwork, converting the first three attempts, and Nikita Kucherov was involved in all of these goals. The 30-year-old forward scored three points in one period for the 17th time in his career, clearly ranking first in club history in this category. Previously, the Russian forward shared the Lightning record with former Canadian famed forward Martin St. Louis, who scored three points 16 times during his career in Tampa. In addition, Nikita ranked 11th in the number of assists in the NHL among Russians, surpassing Alexei Zhamnov.

Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.

“Vasilevsky was fine, as if he had never missed a game. I’m very happy for him, happy for his first win of the season and we’re all happy that he’s back. I don’t think we played well in the first half, but we came into the second half and got the majority, and it worked out well. This gave us momentum and then we played better,” Kucherov said.

Tampa did not stop there: Carolina was able to pull one goal back before halftime, but in the third period they lost five more and Kucherov continued with his legendary game. He first assisted on Brandon Hagel’s goal, then, with the score 6: 2, he took advantage of the mistake of Andrei Svechnikov, who lost the puck at the entrance to the attacking zone, and with a solo pass defeated Antti Raanta. half court, surrounded by three opponents.

Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.

Five points per game, what could be better? Only six points per game! Kucherov put an exclamation point on his legendary match by helping Point score a hat-trick two minutes before the end. Not Kucherov, but a Russian car!

Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.

Six points are difficult to imagine. This game went down in Tampa history as the first in which the team’s forward scored so many points; Previously with the Lightning only defenseman Doug Crossman (6 (3+3) points in the game against the Islanders in 1992) achieved it. Additionally, Kucherov took the lead in the scoring race and became the first NHL winger in the last 24 years to score at least 15 goals and at least 20 assists in the first 20 games of the season. The last to do so was Jaromir Jagr, when he scored 39 points (19 + 20) in the 1999/2000 season.

But Brindamor warned! Before the match he said: “We played with different elite teams, against different top players, and Kucherov is probably the best of all, very dynamic. Last time we were lucky he didn’t play and it was a completely different game.” In fact, the difference is obvious. Without Nikita, who missed the last game against Carolina due to illness, Tampa lost 0-4. They beat Nikita 8:2, and for this the “lightning” only needed 14 shots. Eight for 14 is a new NHL record.