Tampa Bay Lightning loved the brilliant performance from their star player Nikita Kucherov, who scored hat trick in the last nine minutes as the team won the season opener against Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Friday night.
When asked how the Lightning was able to tie the game in the third period with the score of one all, Nikita Kucherov said after the game
“I think we just played the right way and we executed the game plan. Obviously it’s the first one and a tough one against Carolina in Carolina. I’m happy with the win and I’m happy how we played in the third and the whole game.”
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was reliable for Tampa Bay making 20 saves.
For the Hurricanes, captain Jordan Staal got their only goal in the first period. In the loss, goalie Frederik Andersen made 19 saves.
Evander Kane’s fiancee Mara Teigen shares her desire for more kids, embracing her role as a mother: Hattrick hero Nikita Kucherov rates Bolts’ 4-1 over CanesNikita Kucherov’s hat-trick and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes
For his part, Sergei Kucherov’s question about his scoring ability was interesting; Nikita explained that he tries to make the right plays rather than focus on shooting.
“If I have opportunities to shoot I will shoot but if I have an open guy, I’ll definitely dish,”Kucherov said.
Nikita Kucherov netted his initial foray with 8:51 left in the third period then the other two were into the empty-net goals for his hat-trick. He also earlier had a shot that was a pass that contributed to the first-period goal by Brayden Point who opened the scoring in the game. It should be noted that all the first two goals of the Tampa Bay franchise were scored with the power play.
“I think he is the best player in the league at that spot. He can pick up any pass and put it in the net and he was able to do so so I am happy for him”
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was more positive going into the game, although he admitted to having some nervousness concerning his team today concerning how its players will gel with one another this early in the season. After that overwhelming exhibition win, Cooper seemed to be firmly grounded and said, of that he saw the game was “pretty well”.
At the beginning of the season, each team was to play the next one in a face-to-face manner for five consecutive days, with the latter in Florida on Saturday. But that meeting never took place because it was postponed owing to repair works that were done in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Now, both teams complete a couple of off days before they play their next games. Carolina will host New Jersey Devils on Tuesday while Tampa bay will host the Vancouver canucks on the same day in the evening.
