Nikita Kucherov ties Steven Stamkos for Lightning record

He started the night 3 points short of the record. The first 2 came as assists, the second one setting up Anthony Cirelli in front to put the Bolts back ahead.

Eduardo A. Encina

@EddieInTheYard

Kucherov sets up Cirelli in front. #GoBolts up 3-2. Kucherov one point away from tying Stamkos.

That was the game-winning setup, and it left Kucherov sitting 1 point short. Then in the 3rd period he made Jeremy Lauzon pay. He poked the puck off Lauzon's stick at the blue line, had nothing but open ice in front of him, and beat Carter Hart stick side at 5:16 to make it 6-2. A record point on a breakaway he created himself is about as Kucherov as it gets.

That goal was point 1,137. The numbers behind it are the fun part. Kucherov did it in 888 games, with 405 goals and 732 assists. Stamkos needed 1,082 games to get to the same total, and he got there the other way around, with 555 goals and 582 assists. Stamkos was the goal scorer and Kucherov is the playmaker, and Kucherov got there almost 200 games faster. Stamkos plays in Nashville now, so the record he spent 16 years building is about to belong to the guy who rode shotgun for most of it.

Eduardo A. Encina

@EddieInTheYard

#GoBolts open their road trip with a convincing 6-2 win in Vegas. Nikita Kucherov's three points tie him with Steven Stamkos for the #TBLightning's all-time scoring record. Bolts have won seven of their last eight. Andrei Vasilevskiy with 33 saves.

The record was the headline, but the whole team showed up. Brandon Hagel, John Carlson and Victor Hedman scored, Cirelli had 2, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall at the other end. Vegas had won 3 straight coming in and left with its worst loss of the season. Tampa is 7-2-0 and has won 7 of its last 8. Jon Cooper summed up his winger pretty well: "Guys like him don't come around. He's given our fans a decade of awesome."

Lightning Insider

@Erik_Erlendsson

On a night in Vegas where #GoBolts accomplished something not done in the league in 88 years, everything seemed to come up 88 on a milestone night for 86 #TBLightning t.co/7RBMUt3fJf

The number 88 kept coming up all night too. Tampa did something on this trip that reportedly hadn't been done in the league in 88 years, Kucherov tied the record in his 888th game, and number 88 Vasilevskiy shut the door behind him. Somebody in Tampa should be buying lottery tickets.

Next up is Friday in Colorado, 9 p.m. ET, against the Avalanche. One point of any kind and Kucherov has the Lightning record to himself. With the way he's racking up assists, it'd be a surprise if he gets out of the 1st period without it.