The NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning beat one of the Western Conference’s top teams in very convincing fashion on Saturday.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists as the Lightning won their sixth consecutive game, romping over the Colorado Avalanche 7-1.
“It was fun to be a part of,” Stamkos said. “I just thought that we deserved everything that we got today, including some bounces and some breaks, but when you’re on top of the puck like we were tonight, it’s going to be tough for the other team.”
Stamkos scored twice in the first period and had two second-period assists. It was his franchise-best 13th four-point game.
Tampa Bay also got two goals from Ondrej Palat and Louis Domingue made 29 saves. Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli had the other Lightning goals.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal for the Avalanche, who are 10-2-2 over their last 14 games. Semyon Varlamov was pulled midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 23 shots.
Philipp Grubauer replaced Varlamov and gave up two goals on 15 shots.
“I don’t think there’s any positive you could take out of this game,” Grubauer said. “We made it easy for them, the best team in the league.”
Tampa Bay held the high-scoring line of MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog to three points. The trio entered with 48 goals and 124 points.
“We weren’t giving them time and space at all,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “When you don’t give them any space, especially the big line, it can be frustrating.”
Rantanen got his NHL-leading 48th point with an assist that extended his points streak to 11 games (14 assists, 19 points).
Stamkos opened the scoring from the left circle off a pass through the slot by Nikita Kucherov during a power play 3 minutes, 5 seconds into the game. Kucherov has 21 assists and 26 points over his last 13 games.
“I thought it started with the PP [power play],” Johnson said. “Getting that quick goal, I think we just kept rolling with that.”
After Stamkos scored on a breakaway backhander at 13:15 of the first, MacKinnon made it 2-1 just 59 seconds later.
MacKinnon has 20 goals in 30 games, which ties Joe Sakic’s Colorado team record, set in the 1995-1996 season, for the fewest games needed to reach the mark.
In Saturday’s other games, it was:
‧ Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 0
‧ Rangers 5, Panthers 4
‧ Flames 5, Predators 2
‧ Kings 5, Golden Knights 1
‧ Islanders 3, Red Wings 2
‧ Flyers 6, Sa‧bres 2
‧ Bruins 6, Maple Leafs 3
‧ Senators 2, Penguins 1
‧ Sharks 5, Coyotes 3
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