Nikita Kucherov scored two goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning erased a two-goal deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.
Vancouver struck first at 15:32 of the opening period when Linus Karlsson beat Dennis Hildeby with a slap shot off passes from Paul Cotter and Filip Chytil. The Canucks extended the advantage early in the second period on the man advantage, as Elias Pettersson collected a wrist shot goal at 4:35 with assists from Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Brock Boeser.
Tampa Bay began its comeback less than two minutes later. Kucherov put the Lightning on the board with a power-play wrist shot at 6:30, assisted by Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel. Kucherov struck again at 11:23, taking a feed from Brayden Point and beating Kevin Lankinen with a snap shot to tie the score 2-2. Guentzel delivered the go-ahead goal 2:04 into the third period with a slap shot assisted by Charle-Edouard D'Astous and Point. Pontus Holmberg sealed the win with an unassisted wrist goal at 15:57.
Hildeby earned the win in net for Tampa Bay by making 12 saves on 14 shots. Lankinen stopped 31 of 35 shots for the Canucks in the loss. Tampa Bay converted on its lone power play of the afternoon, while Vancouver went 1 for 2 with the man advantage.
With the victory, Tampa Bay improved to 6-2-0 on the season and extended its winning streak to two games. Vancouver dropped to 2-7-1 and is now winless in its last seven games (0-6-1).
Both teams return to the ice on Tuesday, October 20. The Canucks host the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Lightning visit the Vegas Golden Knights.
