Kucherov leads the streaking Lightning to a 4-1 victory over Draisaitl and the Oilers

By Canadian Press on February 25, 2025.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had two assists and the streaking Tampa Bay Lightning beat Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Tuesday night.

The Lightning posted their sixth consecutive win and improved to 7-0-1 in the past eight games overall.

Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul, Mikey Eyssimont and Victor Hedman scored for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves.

Draisaitl scored his NHL-best 43rd goal for the Oilers, who have lost four consecutive games. Stuart Skinner stopped 33 shots.

Draisaitl opened the scoring with a power-play goal 11:53 into the first period, but Eyssimont answered 1:18 later.

Hagel and Hedman scored in the second, and Paul’s 18th goal made it 4-1 at 7:23 of the third period.

Takeaways

Oilers: Edmonton has been outscored 17-7 in the three games coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Lightning: Tampa Bay scored its first 5-on-3 power-play goal of the season. … The Lightning improved to 9-1-1 at home since Jan. 1.

Key moment

Hagel moved up the boards and scored on a backhanded wraparound to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead 29 seconds into the second.

Key stat

Tampa Bay won its 19th consecutive game with the lead entering the third period and improved to 26-1-1 when leading after two periods.

Up next

On Thursday, Edmonton is at Florida and Tampa Bay hosts Calgary.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Erik Erlendsson, The Associated Press