Brandon Hagel scored two goals, including the 150th of his career, and added an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their point streak to 14 games Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the visiting San Jose Sharks.
The streak (13-0-1) is tied for the third-longest in franchise history, matching the run by the 2018-19 club, and four off the record of 18 in the 2003-04 campaign.
Jake Guentzel and Anthony Cirelli had a goal and a helper each as the Lightning improved to 9-2-0 against the Pacific Division and 15-4-1 versus the Western Conference.
After a five-point game in San Jose during Tampa Bay’s 7-3 victory on Jan. 3, Nikita Kucherov recorded two assists. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.
Tyler Toffoli found the net for San Jose, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov made 16 saves.
The Sharks split their two back-to-backs (2-2-0) in the last six days, winning the front end of each.
Right winger Kiefer Sherwood, acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, did not play due to an undisclosed hand injury and is not expected to make his Sharks debut until after the Olympic break.
Unlike the first meeting, which featured four first-period goals and ultimately 10 total, the clubs played a more defensive-oriented contest in the first 14 minutes of their final meeting of the regular season.
San Jose got a faceoff win from Alex Wennberg, and William Eklund’s wraparound attempt was tipped in by Toffoli at 5:23 to open the scoring.
In their first home game after going 4-0-1 on a five-game road trip, the Lightning answered 33 seconds later when Kucherov stole a pass by defenseman Sam Dickinson, and Cirelli fed Hagel for the tying goal.
Tampa Bay potted two goals in just over three minutes into the second to take a 3-1 lead.
Hagel took a diagonal feed from Kucherov and circled behind Askarov with a wraparound, and Cirelli got a piece for the tally.
Less than two minutes later, another turnover near the San Jose netminder led to Guentzel one-timing a pass from Dominic James for the two-goal advantage.
Late in the third, Hagel tallied his 25th into an empty net for the final margin and his milestone marker.
–Field Level Media
