Late Third-Period Surge Lifts Lightning Over Kraken

With four divisional victories before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the Tampa Bay Lightning got back on track with a 4-1 win at home over the Seattle Kraken. Despite a scoreless first half, the Lightning solved the Kraken defense and extended their win streak to five games.

Game Recap

An evenly matched first period kept the score deadlocked at zero between the Lightning and Kraken because of Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ales Stezka. The Seattle netminder made his NHL debut on the road in this contest and looked fantastic to start the game. At 6-foot-4, the 2015 fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild has spent the last two seasons with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.

At roughly the mid-way point of the hockey game, recent 4 Nations champion Brandon Hagel opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Ryan McDonagh and Emil Lilleberg. His 27th tally of the season, Hagel shielded the puck beautifully on a break down the ice and shoveled a backhand past goaltender Stezka.

The Lightning got some insurance in the third period off a quick one-timer from their leading scorer, Nikita Kucherov. Brayden Point won the faceoff directly to Kucherov, and the winger fired the puck home for a 2-0 Lightning lead. Then, Luke Glendening tipped a gorgeous Cam Atkinson dish into the net by crashing the near post hard less than two minutes later for a 3-0 lead. The Kraken got on the board with a tip-in by Shane Wright off a Brandon Montour point shot, but that wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the three-goal deficit. Finally, Nick Paul capped off the scoring with an empty net goal.

The Lightning pick up the action on Tuesday (Feb. 25) against the Edmonton Oilers. Puck drop for that game is at 7:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the Kraken remain on the road and fly to St. Louis to face off against the Blues on Tuesday (Feb. 25) for an 8:00 p.m. start.

3 Stars of the Game

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy (.973 save percentage, 1.00 goals-against average)
2. Brandon Hagel (1 goal, 1 assist)
3. Nikita Kucherov (1 goal)