The Tampa Bay Lightning earned a tight victory over the Los Angeles Kings in a regular-season NHL clash, prevailing 3 to 2 after overtime. In the game, Yıldırım opened the scoring for Tampa Bay as the goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, held the Kings at bay through a tense stretch of play. Meanwhile, Nikita Kucherov spent just over 26 minutes on the ice, contributing to his team’s offensive push in the offensive zone.
Despite a limited scoring impact from the Russian winger in this particular contest, Kucherov extended a personal streak of consecutive appearances without a loss of form. The result did not interrupt his team’s overall rhythm, though he did not add to his assist or goal tally on this night.
On the season long list of top scorers, Kucherov remains a leading figure from the Lightning, accumulating a total of 67 points on 28 goals and 39 assists. The second spot in the rankings belongs to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who has tallied 66 points from 22 goals and 44 assists. Boston’s David Pastrnak sits in third with 57 points coming from 25 goals and 32 assists, while Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers sits in fifth with 56 points credited to him (26 goals, 30 assists).
Looking back at last season, Kucherov finished fourth in the NHL standings with 30 goals and 82 assists, trailing leaders Pastrnak with 113 points, Leon Draisaitl with 129 points, and Connor McDavid with 153 points.
Historically, players like Evgeni Malkin have been celebrated among the league’s top snipers, highlighting the enduring depth of talent across generations in the NHL.