Kucherov has 3 points, Lightning power past Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Rogers Arena on Thursday.

Kucherov, who was coming off a five-point game (three goals, two assists) in a 6-2 win at the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, moved into sole possession of second place in the NHL scoring race with 114 points (38 goals, 76 assists), three ahead of Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and one behind leader Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, who host Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Cirelli has two goals and four assists in two games since being moved back up to the top line with Kucherov and Hagel after recording five points in his previous eight games. 

“It's easy when you get to play with two guys in ‘Kuch’ and ‘Hages.’ They're just two world-class players and make so many plays,” Cirelli said. “Just their work ethic of even just staying on the forecheck, coming up with pucks, so (I) just try and go to the net for them.” 

Darren Raddysh and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist, Erik Cernak had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning (42-21-4), who have won consecutive games to start a four-game road trip after only winning twice in their previous nine (2-7-0). 

Tampa Bay remained four points behind the Buffalo Sabres in second place in the Atlantic Division and moved four points ahead of the third-place Montreal Canadiens, who lost 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. 

“Our team has played a bit more of a direct game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Every time we get in trouble, our game gets too cute. … We've been spending too much time in our zone, and for the last couple nights, guys have made a big effort to push that puck north and we've defended well, and when we haven't, the goalie has been there to make a save for us.”

Tampa Bay’s top defenseman and captain Victor Hedman did not play after the first period. 

“I'll let everybody know tomorrow,” Cooper said of Hedman’s status. “He wasn't feeling well.” 

Asked if it was more illness than injury, Cooper said, “Yeah.”

Marco Rossi had two assists, and Kevin Lankinen made 24 saves for the Canucks (21-39-8), who were trying to win consecutive home games for the first time this season. 

Vancouver is 3-3-1 in its past seven games after going 4-18-4 in its previous 26.

“They're a really good team, so it's important to learn from it,” Rossi, who has nine points (three goals, six assists) during a four-game point streak, said of the Lightning. “It's important to stay positive. You're going to have some nights like that, but it's important to learn from the mistakes.”

Jake Guentzel put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at 17:37 of the first period with a deflection in the slot of a Charle-Edouard D'Astous point shot, beating a screened Lankinen on the glove side. With the goal, Guentzel became the third Lightning player this season to reach 30 for the season. 

Raddysh scored 49 seconds into the second period to make it 2-0, one-timing a Kucherov pass from below the goal line past the blocker of Lankinen from the top of the right face-off circle after the Canucks goalie lost his stick earlier in the sequence. 

“Just kind of put your head down and just get it by my block, and hopefully it goes in,” Raddysh said.

Yanni Gourde scored on a deflection of a Raddysh point shot to make it 3-0 at 4:16, and Kucherov pushed it to 4-0 just 1:15 later with a quick wrist shot from the top of the right circle that bounced in off the shin pad of Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek at the edge of the crease at 5:31.

“We played hard tonight, probably got some bounces that in the end we probably deserved,” Cooper said. “We were going through a little bit of a nonshooting phase for a bit, but caught some breaks on some deflections and some tips.”

Liam Ohgren cut it to 4-1 at 12:06 as the trailer off a rush, firing a wrist shot low past the blocker of Vasilevskiy from between the tops of the circles.

Linus Karlsson knocked a rebound out of the air to make it 4-2 at 7:04 of the third period. Vasilevskiy made a sprawling glove save off Rossi cutting across the crease, with Karlsson putting in the second chance. 

“I think this, at the end, is going to help us,” Karlsson said. “We see how good they are and how hard they work. That's something we need to bring here too.”

Cirelli restored the Lightning's three-goal lead 32 seconds later. He redirected a cross-ice pass from Hagel with his right skate at the top of the crease to make it 5-2 at 7:36, and Hagel snapped a shot over Lankinen’s glove from the left face-off dot on the rush at 10:35 for the 6-2 final.

Tampa Bay's top line of Hagel, Cirelli and Kucherov combined for eight points (three goals, five assists) and finished plus-11. 

“We've kind of been very fortunate we've got a group of guys that I can mix and match up there when things are going a little stale, and right now, that group has really been excellent for us on this road trip,” Cooper said of the top line. “There's just a lot of work, a lot of skill, a lot of hockey IQ, and when they're all working and vibing with each other, it's fun to watch.”

NOTES: It was Kucherov’s 124th three-point game, which is the fourth most among active players behind Sidney Crosby (189), McDavid (149) and Alex Ovechkin (141). … Guentzel is the first Lightning player to score 30 goals in each of his first two seasons with the team. … Raddysh is two goals from becoming the third undrafted defenseman over the past 30 years with 20 or more in a single season. The others are Mark Giordano (21 in 2015-16) and Dan Boyle (20 in 2006-07). … Vancouver center Aatu Raty finished even with six hits and was 9-for-16 on face-offs playing 13:16 in his 100th NHL game.