HOCKEY: Nikita Kucherov posts 700th career assist as Lightning top Maple Leafs

Nikita Kucherov scored a goal and recorded his 700th and 701st career assists, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning secure a 4-2 victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

The right winger fed Gage Goncalves, who later assisted on Kucherov's goal, for a second-period tally, becoming the 64th player in NHL history to reach 700 career assists. He is the third Russian-born player to achieve the milestone, joining Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

Kucherov’s point streak extended to an NHL-best 11 games, and he reached 30 goals for the ninth time in his career.

Brayden Point added two goals and an assist, Goncalves recorded a goal and two assists, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous returned with two assists.

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots as Tampa Bay won its sixth straight game, improving to 20-1-1 in its last 22 outings. The Lightning are 17-0-1 in their past 18 games.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper was absent following the death of his father, Robert, and will also miss Thursday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

For Toronto, Matthew Knies had a goal and an assist, John Tavares scored, and William Nylander contributed two assists. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz, returning from an upper-body injury and three pre-Olympic starts, stopped 32 shots.

In the first period, both Kucherov and Point appeared to score, but Toronto successfully challenged for offside, nullifying the goals. Vasilevskiy kept the period scoreless with a key stop on Nylander’s deke and backhand-forehand attempt. The Maple Leafs held an 8-4 edge in shots through the opening 20 minutes.

In the second, Point converted a pass from D’Astous, outwaiting Stolarz and burying a sharp-angle shot at 7:07. Goncalves followed with a goal 51 seconds later after receiving a pass from Kucherov. Vasilevskiy denied Nylander again with under eight minutes remaining.

Kucherov scored at 2:59 of the third period, while Tavares broke the shutout bid with a power-play goal at 16:19. Point scored 11 seconds later, assisted by Kucherov and Goncalves, before Knies cut the deficit to two at 17:13.

—Field Level Media/Reuters