Nikita Kucherov extended his points streak to nine games, Gage Goncalves scored his first goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning set a season-high with their fourth straight win, 3-1, over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Kucherov posted two second-period assists to give him 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) in nine outings.
Goncalves notched his first goal in his 20th NHL game. Anthony Cirelli and Nick Perbix tallied as the Lightning won for the sixth time in seven December games (6-1-0). Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy denied 31 shots.
Jake Guentzel’s NHL-best seven-game goal streak ended.
St. Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich scored, giving him points in 10 of his past 11 games (four goals, six assists).
Goalie Jordan Binnington surrendered three goals on 11 shots before being lifted. Joel Hofer stopped all seven shots in relief.
In the loss, Jordan Kyrou failed to score in his sixth straight game.
The Blues’ Philip Broberg (illness) was scratched on the rear guard. Radek Faksa missed his fifth consecutive match, but coach Jim Montgomery said the center is probable against the Florida Panthers on Friday.
The Blues dropped to 9-9-2 against the Eastern Conference to open their three-game road trip.
After netting 18 goals in three games, the Lightning’s offense flashed again in the first period when Blues defensemen Tyler Tucker and Scott Perunovich got crossed up while Conor Geekie possessed the puck.
He then slipped a diagonal pass over to Cirelli, who lifted in the first marker at 5:14.
Despite stepping up its attack in the first three minute of the second, St. Louis fell behind 2-0 following brilliant playmaking by the home side.
Brayden Point lasered a rink-wide pass to Kucherov, left to right, before the right wing one-touched it to Perbix dashing down the middle.
The defenseman then found the net at 3:42 for his fourth goal and second against the Blues this season.
On the visitors’ best offensive zone possession, Robert Thomas found Buchnevich on the far post at 12:15 to make it 2-1.
Goncalves’ seemingly harmless wrister from the left circle 78 seconds later was his first time hitting the net.
After Binnington allowed his second goal on three shots in the frame, Montgomery pulled him in favor of Hofer, despite the Central Division club playing on the first of back-to-back games.
St. Louis pulled Hofer with 2:10 remaining in the match but could not cut into the deficit.
–Field Level Media
