Nikita Kucherov’s school yard move keeps Tampa Bay moving up the standings

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 4, 2017

Nikita Kucherov down by the school yard lifted the Lighting closer to the playoff stage.

Kucherov reached in to his bag of tricks on Saturday, pulling off a deft move in the second round of the shootout to give Tampa Bay a key 2-1 shootout victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Key Bank Center.

The win pulled the Lightning to within three points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, three points behind the idle New York Islanders. Tampa Bay is also two points behind Toronto and one point behind Florida in the standings heading in to an important week where the Lightning host the New York Rangers, Minnesota and Florida.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots along with both shootout attempts to win his third consecutive game since Ben Bishop was traded a week ago.

But it was the shootout goal by Kucherov, which blew up social media around the league on a debate whether it was intentional or not, improved Tampa Bay to 8-2-2 in the past 12 games.

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After Brayden Point converted his first attempt, Kucherov skated down to Vasilevskiy – who just stopped Jack Eichel in the second round – and told the Lightning netminder of his intentions to try to pull off a move he showed off in practice earlier in the week.

As Kucherov skated in on Buffalo goaltender Robin Lehner, he put on a quick deke and feigned as if he was going to pull the puck to his backhand. But as the puck kept inching forward, Kucherov put in a forward lean and circled his stick ahead of the puck without touching it. Lehner was sold on the move as he slid to his right, helpless as the puck continued to slide along the ice and under the opening between Lehner’s pads and in to the net to clinch the victory for Tampa Bay.

”He brought the school yard to the big stage,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s a school yard move for sure. But, the bottom line is it crossed the goal line and that’s what we needed. Special player doing special things. I tell you though, you better score on that.’’

While the debate opened up immediately as to whether the move was purposely done or if he was fortunate after losing control of the puck, Kucherov told reporters it was planned while Tyler Johnson backed that up.

”It definitely was on purpose. He does it in practice all the time,’’ Johnson said. “I think a lot of people mess around doing that but you never think in a NHL game. But that’s Kuch. That’s going to be a goal that’s on YouTube forever, so I can’t wait to see it.

Here you go Tyler:

Even Steven Stamkos chimed in:

Wow !! He did that twice this week in practice. pic.twitter.com/k1zo0zqsqi

— Steven Stamkos (@RealStamkos91) March 5, 2017

St. Louis forward David Perron offered up his reaction:

Unreal! https://t.co/6Hqo6KIiXu

— David Perron (@DP_57) March 5, 2017

The jaw-dropping play – the second such overtime play in the past two weeks – ended an otherwise non-descript game on an entertaining note.

Ryan O’Reilly one-timed a shot late in the first period to put Buffalo on top with a power play goal with 12 seconds left.

Tyler Johnson pulled Tampa Bay even getting his stick on a slap pass from Victor Hedman to tie it up 2:37 in to the second period.

The goaltenders would make sure it stayed that way, with Lehner robbing Jonathan Drouin on a one-timer chance while Vasilevskiy helped thwart a late Buffalo power play that carried over in to overtime. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, failed to convert on its power play chance in the overtime, as well.

But it all just set the stage for Kucherov to pull off a mesmerizing move normally reserved for weekends on the pond or post-practice when fooling around.

”He did it on purpose?,’’ Lehner said when told by reporters the move was deliberate. “What can I say? Bad by me, pretty sick by him.’’

Pretty bold, actually.

But sometimes school yard rules rule the day.

Postgame notes: C Greg McKegg was a healthy scratch. … D Luke Witkowski dressed as the seventh defenseman, his first game since Feb. 7 at Los Angeles, but wound up playing at forward on the fourth line for most of the game. … RW Nikita Kucherov extended his scoring streak to six games while D Victor Hedman extended his scoring streak to five games. … Hedman set a career high with his 43rd assist and tied a career high with his 55th point. … C Brayden Point has converted his fifth shootout attempt of the season in seven attempts.

My three stars:
1.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – Extended his scoring streak with an assist, but his shootout goal stole the show

2.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 31 saves plus both shootout attempts

3.Lightning C Tyler Johnson – Goal, plus-1, six shots on goal

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