Nikita Kucherov demolished Carolina and is first in Canadian scoring. Plus, he set a club record

Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov dominated the nightcap of Carolina Hurricanes vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (2:8). The duo combined for a whopping 11 points in the demolition of Carolina! Kucherov scored 6 points on 2 goals and 4 assists and Point contributed a hat trick with 2 assists.

Kucherov catapulted himself to the top of the scoring charts. In 20 games he scored 35 points on 15 goals and 20 assists. He currently leads the scoring by 3 points over defensive shield Quinn Hughes. The best Czech player, David Pastrnak, is in fourth place with 30 points.

The Russian also tied the Lightning club record with six points in a game. The record was set on November 7, 1992 by Doug Crossman in a 6:5 victory over the NY Islanders, when he scored a hat trick and added 3 assists.

Kucherov also scored his 17th three-point game in a Tampa uniform. He erased the legend Martin St. Louis from the club’s history, who did it 16 times for the Lightning. In addition, Vincent Lecavalier, who managed to record 4 five-point games this season, has also been erased from the club’s annals for the sixth time!

Kucherov has spent his entire NHL career so far with Tampa Bay and has had a lot of success with them. He has won two Stanley Cups and had a hat trick with the team, only for the Lightning to fall to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 finals.

Both times Tampa won the Stanley Cup, he won the playoff scoring. First with 34 points and then with 32 points. In neither case, however, was it enough to win the Conn Smythe Trophy awarded to the best player of the playoffs.

2018/19 season

He had the NHL season of his life so far in 2018/19, when he tied Jaromir Jagr’s record for most assists collected by a winger with 87. He thus recorded 128 points, the most points scored by a Russian player in NHL history.

He collected major league awards this season: Hart Trophy for the league’s best player, Art Ross Trophy for the scoring winner and Ted Lindsay Award for the league’s best player according to the players themselves. He just didn’t win the award for top scorer, of course, because Kucherov was never a scorer, but rather created chances for his teammates.

He has already managed to break the 100-point mark three times in the NHL. And he had to miss the entire 2020/21 regular season because of a hip surgery. This season he is on track for a 4th 100-point season. Moreover, Tampa Bay has been gaining form in the playoffs in recent years.

Source: NHL, Wikipedia