Kucherov has five points, Lightning top Blue Jackets for sixth win in row

COLUMBUS -- Nikita Kucherov had two goals and three assists when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

Kucherov tied his NHL high of five points, set Dec. 22, 2018, against the Edmonton Oilers (goal, four assists), and leads the NHL with 99 points (29 goals, 70 assists).
"I saw a chance to score, that's all," he said.
WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Kucherov set the Lightning record for assists in a season with 70, surpassing the 68 by Martin St. Louis (2010-11) and Brad Richards (2005-06), and extended his multipoint streak to five games (18 points; seven goals, 11 assists).

Andrei Vasilevskiy came within 1:45 of a setting a Lightning record with a third straight shutout before Lukas Sedlak made it 5-1. Vasilevskiy made 39 saves.
"On a night when the team's not at its best, a big-time player came to play, and our goaltender kept us in," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We felt pretty fortunate to get two points tonight."
The Lightning (45-11-4) won their sixth straight. They are 16 points ahead of the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves for the Blue Jackets (33-22-3), who have lost two of three and are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins with 69 points, four behind the Washington Capitals for second in the Metropolitan Division.

In the first period, the Blue Jackets outshot the Lightning 20-6, won 17 of 20 face-offs, and killed a penalty against the top-ranked power play in the NHL (30.3 percent), but they trailed 2-0 on two goals by Kucherov.
"We had a really good first period. We definitely dominated that period," Columbus forward Kole Sherwood said. "They got two lucky bounces and capitalized on them."
Kucherov scored with a backhand shot to the right post to make it 1-0 at 11:18 off a 2-on-1 pass from Yanni Gourde after a Blue Jackets turnover.
On his second goal, he stole the puck from Nick Foligno in the neutral zone and scored unassisted to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead at 14:24.
"I'm frustrated for the team," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "Our first period was probably our best period of hockey we've played all year long. I'm not crazy about Nick's turnover. Again, you just can't lose your patience in a game like that.
"You're down 2-0 after the way we played, you still have to stick with it."

Steven Stamkos made it 3-0 at 19:31 of the second when he scored his 33rd goal on a 5-on-3 power play.
Point scored on the power play 12 seconds into the third to make it 4-0 and again at even strength at 46 seconds to make it 5-0.
"Those two goals decided the game," Sedlak said. "We felt good going in the third that we could win that game, but those two goals, that can't happen."
The Lightning have outscored opponents 31-9 during their winning streak and are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games.
This is the first time in Lightning history they've had two double-digit point streaks in a season. They were 15-0-1 from Nov. 29-Jan. 3.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman did not play after the first period because of a lower-body injury. There was no update after the game.

They said it

"That first period they were all over us. They took it to us. Without [Vasilevskiy] it would have been a different game. We played a little better in the second. In the third we played to our strengths." -- Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh
"We got a couple of scoring chances, but we didn't get anything special in the offensive zone. We didn't get that many grade A chances, but we still have to score." -- Blue Jackets forward Lukas Sedlak on not scoring despite having 20 shots on goal in the first period

Need to know

The Lightning have won six straight against the Blue Jackets the past two seasons, outscoring them 28-7, including 17-3 in three games this season. … Kucherov is two games shy of his NHL-best seven consecutive multipoint games from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, 2019. … Stamkos has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak and 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in his past 17 games. … Point has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in a six-game point streak. He needs one assist for 100 in the NHL. … The Lightning have scored at least one power-play goal in five straight games. … The Blue Jackets' 20 shots in the first set their season high for a period. … Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray left in the first period with an upper-body injury. He will not play at the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and at the Ottawa Senators on Friday. … Forwards Brandon Dubinsky (hip) missed his seventh straight game and Markus Hannikainen (illness) his second in a row for the Blue Jackets.

What's next

Lightning:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, SUN, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets:At Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-O, NHL.TV)