SUNRISE, Fla. — With Brayden Point, the best player in the Lightning’s first-round playoff series win over Toronto, sidelined for Tuesday’s second-round opener against Florida, the Lightning needed someone else to push the pace.
Enter Nikita Kucherov, who put the game on his stick in the second period and brought the Lightning back from a sleepy series start with a highlight-reel setup of the tying goal in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 win.
On the power play, Kucherov made a marvelous move, juking Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad on the rush, faking toward the middle, then taking the puck to his left and leaving Ekblad flailing at air. He fed Corey Perry along the back post for what might have been the easiest open-net goal of his career.
