Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Sunday. Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul had empty-net goals.

Nikita Kucherov swiped the puck and converted on a breakaway with three minutes remaining as the Tampa Bay Lightning broke a tie and claimed the season series from the host Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, on Sunday.

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Sunday. Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul ...

PITTSBURGH -- Nikita Kucherov scored twice, including a go-ahead goal at 16:57 of the third period, and had an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

This was a high-shot volume, high-chance game that featured terrific goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy and Lukas Dostal. The teams each scored three goals through 60 minutes but easily could have exceeded that total. In the end, the Lightning netted the only goal in the shootout to secure a crucial second point in the standings.

Tampa Bay is back home for a quick two-game home stand after going 1-1-1 on their most recent road-trip. It’s been a busy month for the Bolts and the schedule doesn’t let up until the end of January. Since beating the Lightning 4-1 on Jan 5., the Ducks have gone 1-3-1, scoring just 5 goals in total on their roadtrip.

Although the Ducks beat the Lightning by three goals on Jan. 5, they have, more recently, been battered on their season-long road trip. The Ducks sandwiched the only win on a journey that began with two lopsided losses between a pair of shutouts by their opponents.

The Lighting were prepared to dress all 18 healthy skaters, but a team rule states that any player who misses a meeting will be benched for the next game. When Point arrived late to TD Garden Tuesday morning, Tampa Bay summoned Finley from Syracuse to fill the empty forward spot.

The Detroit Red Wings scored four goals in the first eight minutes and extended their winning streak to seven games by romping past the visiting Seattle Kraken 6-2 on Sunday. Marco Kasper, J.T. Compher,

Jake Guentzel, who won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2017, had two assists to become the second player in Lightning history with at least 20 goals and 40 points in his first 40 games with the franchise. Guentzel signed a seven-year deal with the Lightning in the offseason.

Pittsburgh has now lost seven of their nine games since the holiday break and is losing precious points in the Eastern Conference Standings

Detroit has been on a bit of a hot streak as of late, winning 8 of their last 10 games. The Lightning have had a jam-packed month of January with sixteen games on the schedule. There's no doubt they'd like to see their divisional record improve and they'll have a chance to do it tonight.