Lost in the frustration and gloom of the Lightning’s 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets was the fact that Nikita Kucherov picked up his 70th assist of the season as he had the helper on Gage Goncalves’ deflection goal in the first period. The goal gave the Lightning a lead (their first against a non-Toronto team since the Olympic Break) and notched a little history for Kucherov.
According to the Lightning, Kucherov is now the 10th player in NHL history with at least five career 70-assist seasons. He ties Peter Stastny for the most from a player born outside of North America. The 32-year-old forward is also the seventh player in league history to string four 70-assist seasons together in a row.
Despite the team’s losses, he is still marching his way to milestones as he is two points away from 1100 in his career, and nine goals away from 400. It’s unlikely that he’ll catch Steven Stamkos’ franchise record of 1137 points this season, but would you put anything past him?
Other Hockey News
Why do Cup contenders keep going after one the NHL’s oldest, slowest players? [The Athletic]
Corey Perry is not the fastest skater in the league, but he brings “instant culture” to a locker room. A nice look at why The Worm keeps getting interest from teams like the Lightning.
Lightning can’t find their offense in 5-2 loss [Raw Charge]
It was a tough watch for most of the night, but at least Gage scored in his return to action!
Lightning fall at home for the 6th loss in 7 games [Tampa Bay Times]
The frustration is starting to set in, but the Lightning know what they need to do to break out of it. Can they execute?
Syracuse Crunch acquire Matthew Peca from Thunderbirds [Syracuse Crunch]
An old friend is back! The AHL trade deadline is this Friday, so expect the clubs to keep making moves. The Lightning bring back a former forward in Peca, who was drafted in the seventh round as part of that magical 2011 Lightning class. Wyatt Newpower went to Springfield in the deal. The 32-year-old has 391 points (124 goals, 267 assists) in 530 AHL games.
Setting up major stat races for home stretch [Daily FaceOff]
The math wizards project Kucherov to finish just behind Connor McDavid in the points race, and for Andrei Vasilevskiy to get to 38 wins. From their pens to the hockey gods’ ears.
MacKinnon ejected in loss to Oilers [Mile High Hockey]
The probable Hart Trophy Winner was assessed the first game misconduct of his career as he trucked old friend Conor Ingram. Oh yeah, Ross Colton was hurt in the game as well. Rough waters ahead for the Avs?
Judging overreactions to the 2026 NHL trade deadline [ESPN]
The World Wide Leader states that it is not an overreaction to think the Corey Perry deal helps the Lightning win the Eastern Conference. That’s nice.
Thoughts on the loss to Columbus and looking at some Stanley Cup odds [Backchecking the Bolts]
Sorry, no Kumquat Festival talk in this one (you’ll have to tune into the previous episode for that) but Jason and Justin do talk about the Columbus game, Stanley Cup odds, and there is a trivia question! Subscribe and listen (or watch) at all of your favorite podcast locations.
