Kucherov bags 3 assists, ups career mark to 500

TAMPA, Fla. — Nikita Kucherov had three assists to reach 500 for his career, Anthony Cirelli scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Minnesota Wild 7-3 on Thursday night.

Kucherov, who leads the league with 75 points, had his fourth game this season with three or more assists. He achieved the milestone in his 688th game, the third fastest to reach the mark among active players behind Connor McDavid (527) and Sidney Crosby (554).

Kucherov’s milestone assist came on Steven Stamkos‘ power-play goal early in the third. It was the 205th career power-play goal for Stamkos, tying Joe Sakic for 16th all time.

Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for Tampa Bay. Waltteri Merela, Brayden Point, Stamkos and Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 30 saves.

“He’s hitting them so quick,” Point said of Kucherov. “He’s having another unbelievable year for us. Not surprising that he’s got 500 assists already. The way he sees the ice and the way he can make plays.”

Tampa Bay won a season-best fourth consecutive game.

“It’s a tough league to win and you don’t take those for granted,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But at some point, we have to dig our heels in here and win some games.”

Jake Middleton had a goal and two assists for the Wild, his second three-point game of the season. Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi had the other goals for Minnesota, which fell to 2-8-1 in its last 11 games. Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots.