Tampa Bay Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov of Maykop, Russia collected his sixth National Hockey League hat trick on Friday. He accomplished the feat in a 4-1 Lightning win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was the first National Hockey League regular season game in Raleigh since the PNC Arena was renamed the Lenovo Center on September 12.
How did Kucherov score his three goals?
All three of Kucherov’s goals were scored in the final 10 minutes of the game. He first put the Lightning up 2-1 with eight minutes and 54 seconds left in the third period. Kucherov scored the game-winning goal from defenseman and newly named Lightning captain Victor Hedman of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden and Nick Paul of Mississauga, Ontario on the power-play. Kucherov then put the Lightning up 3-1 into an empty net with an insurance marker. He scored from Jake Guentzel of Omaha, Nebraska and Erik Cernak of Kosice, Slovakia with two minutes and seven seconds left in the third period. Then, Kucherov closed out the scoring with a second empty net goal with 16 seconds left in the game. Guentzel and Hedman had the assists.
Four point night for Kucherov
In addition to the hat trick, Kucherov had an assist. He helped set up Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta at 2:33 of the second period.
Kucherov’s five other hat tricks
Kucherov’s first hat trick came on October 28, 2014 in a 7-3 Lightning win over the Arizona Coyotes. That was followed by three goal games on February 27, 2017 in a 5-1 Lightning win over the Ottawa Senators, on March 23, 2017 in a 6-3 Lightning win over the Boston Bruins, on January 11, 2022 in a 6-1 Lightning win over the Buffalo Sabres, and on January 23, 2024 in a 6-3 Lightning win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Lightning game on Saturday postponed
The Hurricanes and Lightning were supposed to play a second game of a back-to-back on Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa. However, the game was postponed because of Hurricane Milton.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
