TAMPA, Fla. — When he’s at his best, Nikita Kucherov can bring out the most in his teammates.
As the Lightning ramp up for the postseason, the most promising sign of another deep playoff run is that Kucherov has found his best hockey of the season.
He had a goal and two assists in a 6-2 win over the Predators Saturday at Amalie Arena, giving him 22 points over his past 13 games, including six multi-point games.
He’s given the Lightning power play a boost with three man-advantage goals over the past three games, including a second-period score that gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead with 19.5 seconds left in the first period.
The Lightning have won four of their last five, with four regular-season games remaining. They’ve outscored their opponents 14-3 over their past two games.
With the win, the Lightning (48-22-8, 104 points) solidified their third-place spot in the Atlantic Division, maintaining a three-point lead over the Bruins (48-25-5, 101 points). Boston beat the Rangers, 3-1, earlier Saturday.
The Lightning built on their most-lopsided win of the season, an 8-1 trouncing of a Toronto team that was without top scorer Auston Matthews and starting goaltender Jack Campbell with another well-rounded performance against a Nashville team fighting for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
Tampa Bay was willing to scrap with a Nashville team with the most fighting penalties in the league, and its physicality was tested. Defenseman Jan Rutta dropped his gloves in the third period, throwing a bunch of overhead right-hand punches at Predators forward Nick Cousins.
The Predators (44-29-5, 93 points) struggled to anticipate what Kucherov could do with the puck on his stick. His quick cross-ice pass from below the goal line to Steven Stamkos on the power play spun Nashville’s heads around and freed Victor Hedman for a 100.4-mph shot from the center point. Hedman’s shot beat Predators goalie Juuse Saros gloveside to put Tampa Bay ahead 1:51 into the game.
After Anthony Cirelli scored with 9:01 left in the first, Predators defenseman Roman Josi answered on the power play to make it 2-1. Kucherov then took the puck off a faceoff win in the offensive zone and skated from the top of the right circle to the left. He surprised the Predators with a wrist shot that found the back of the net through traffic.
Nashville closed the gap to one again on Alexandre Carrier’s power-play goal midway through the second period, but the Lightning answered when Kucherov carried the puck into the slot and made a no-look pass to Stamkos, who rifled a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle for a 4-2 lead.
Just 1:37 into the third, Hedman’s shot on net deflected off Ross Colton and into the net. Only 31 seconds later, Pat Maroon intercepted a lazy pass out of the corner of the Predators’ zone and had an open shot from the slot to make it 6-2.
