TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point scored two goals, Anthony Cirelli got one and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on Tuesday night for their seventh straight home win.
Reigning NHL MVP Nikita Kucherov had two assists in his first home game since asking the Lightning for a trade, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots.
Lucas Raymond and J.T. Compher scored Detroit’s goals. The Red Wings pulled their goalie for an extra shooter
for the final three minutes and put plenty of pressure on Vasilevskiy but couldn't get the tying goal. Ryan McDonagh slid an empty-netter down the ice with 1 second left.
Point gave the Lightning 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first period. He didn’t quite get everything on his shot in the low slot off Kucherov’s centering pass but it went past goalie John Gibson.
Point snapped a shot over Gibson’s glove 5:07 later to make it 2-0. Kucherov set it up with another perfect pass. Gibson was replaced by Daniil Tarasov to start the second period after stopping 11 of 13 shots in the first.
Cirelli lifted his fifth goal past Tarasov into the top left corner for a 3-0 lead in the second period.
Raymond fired a shot from the left point past Vasilevskiy midway through the second to cut it to 3-1. The Red Wings got within 3-2 less than six minutes into the third when Compher scored a power-play goal, blasting a shot from the right circle underneath Vasilevskiy’s left pad.
Kucherov has five assists in two games since informing the team he wants to be traded. Kucherov said Monday he made the request because he feels disrespected by a lack of communication with general manager Julien BriseBois.
Kucherov is in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract signed in 2018 before he helped Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup twice, led the NHL in scoring three times and won the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and 2025-26.
“It was never about the money for me,” Kucherov said Monday. “More about poor communication and respect. Over the last four months, we only have had two conversations and Julien, in the end, made it clear that I’m free to walk on July 1.”
Red Wings: Host Las Vegas on Thursday night.
Lightning: Host Chicago on Thursday night.
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