TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Darren Raddysh and Yanni Gourde each had a goal and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.
Nikita Kucherov scored his 27th goal on an empty-netter and added his 55th assist. Dominic James also scored for Tampa Bay, which improved to 16-1-1 in its past 18 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 shots to extend his streak without a regulation loss to 14 games (13-0-1).
Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg, while Connor Hellebuyck finished with 33 saves.
The Lightning won their seventh consecutive home game.
James put Tampa Bay up 1-0 in the first period. J.J. Moser found Raddysh for a tap-pass to James, who skated in alone on the left wing side for a quick shot that went betweeen Hellebuyck's legs.
Raddysh notched his 15th goal of the season and scored for the third consecutive game with a slap shot from the right point at 1:37 of the second period. After Connor cut the Lightning lead in half, Gourde answered during a delayed penalty call on Winnipeg in the middle slot, redirecting a pass from Kucherov at 15:17.
Kucherov, who scored with 1:08 left, has 31 points in January, the third time he’s recorded at least 30 points in a month to tie Connor McDavid for most among active players. The only other players with as many are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Phil Esposito, Bryan Trottier, Steve Yzerman and Jaromir Jagr.
Kucherov is second in the league in assists and third in points.
Jets: At Florida on Saturday.
Lightning: Host Boston on Sunday in an outdoor game at Raymond James Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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