Kucherov stepping up for Lightning when they need him most

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 5, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Nikita Kucherov is riding a stretch of King Midas hockey right now because it seems everything he touches turns to goals.

Even his shootout attempts these days are something to behold.

At a point in the season in which Tampa Bay needs somebody to step up and try to carry them on an improbable ride up the standings, it has been Kucherov putting his best skate forward. And over the past week, it’s been quite the ride.

When the league hands out its “Three stars of the week’’ on Monday, Kucherov is almost certain to have his name on that list. In four games last week, Kucherov registered five goals and nine points as Tampa Bay went 3-1 to keep playoff hopes alive.

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It’s been quite a turnaround for Kucherov, who started the season on fire and was among the league leaders in points while paired with captain Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov for a good stretch before Stamkos was lost to a knee injury in November.

In the first two months of the season Kucherov had 13 goals and 30 points in 29 games through Dec. 10. Then he missed six games due to injury and despite coming back and recording two goals and six assists in his first four games back. But then he hit a lull, registering just two goals and four points over the next nine games.

But since February, Kucherov has returned to form with six multi-point games, including two four-point efforts in a span of three games. During his current six-game scoring streak heading in to Monday’s game against the New York Rangers 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Sun, 970-AM, Kucherov has seven goals and 10 assists.

Kucherov has been on a roll before, but this might be one of his best stretches.

”He’s really hot,’’ center Tyler Johnson said. “If you look at his point totals, the way he’s playing, getting shots and creating opportunities. When he’s doing that, he’s a pretty fun player to play with and watch.’’

While the “school-yard’’ shootout move he pulled off on Saturday in Buffalo shows just how high his confidence level is at the moment, the goal he scored against Carolina on Thursday might show just how much of a zone he’s in right now.

As he cut to the inside lane as Johnson received a pass from Jason Garrison, Kucherov, in one motion, took the saucer pass fed to him by Johnson and turned to angle his body almost perfectly to shovel and lift a puck in to the top corner for a go-ahead goal.

”A lot of people can get that shot off, but in order to put it in the spot he put it, that’s pretty impressive,’’ Kucherov said. “It’s one of those kind of shovel shots that’s quite frankly hard to control. You can kind of get it to half of the net, but to be able to get it to that top corner as quick as it was, that’s pretty good.’’

With 12 points over a four-game span from Feb. 21-March 1, he became the first player in franchise history to record 12 points in four games since Vinny Lecavalier in 2007. Kucherov is also the youngest player with four, four-point games in a season since Tyler Seguin in 2013-14, according to Hockey-Reference.com.

The production has been rolling along.

”Let’s just hope this is the beginning of the roll,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s getting puck to the net and when he’s getting to the net and attacking the net, good things will happen. But he’s earned these breaks, he’s earned this. He just has to keep this going.’’

With 36 shots on goal in the past seven games, a stretch that started against Colorado on Feb. 19 with a career-high nine shots on goal, Kucherov has been getting his chances. And when he’s on the roll he’s on now, when he’s getting that many chances, a good portion of them they are going to end up in the back of the net.

”You have to get by the frustration,’’ Cooper said of the nine-shot effort that did not get a payoff. “Especially when you put nine on net, you get unbelievable looks and you are so used to scoring and you are not, frustration can set in. It’s balancing a player’s mind and calming then down to let them know if you keep doing that, they will go in for you. They may not go in for a lot of other guys, but they are going to go in for you. And they are now. It’s just part of a maturing process as a scorer. If you continue to put the work in it’s going to work out for you and it is now.’’

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