Nikita Kucherov's 4 points lead Lightning to 9th consecutive victory

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Jan 10, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — It’s that time of the season when, around the league, hockey observers are raving about Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

And forgetting about Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov.

But in many ways, the Lightning’s rise to the top of the Eastern Conference has coincided with some otherworldly play from the team’s top skater, who is making magic on a nightly basis.

Saturday in South Philadelphia, that was on full display as Kucherov scored twice as part of a four-point night in the Lightning’s 7-2 win over the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Lightning’s nine-game winning streak is their longest in five seasons. They had streaks of 10 and a franchise-high 11 games during their 2019-20 Stanley Cup season.

By opening its five-game road trip — it will play in Philadelphia again Monday before going to Pittsburgh Tuesday — with a win, Tampa Bay improved its league-best road points percentage to .727 (15-4-3).

And even though Kucherov, the reigning back-to-back Art Ross Trophy winner, sits well behind MacKinnon and McDavid in the NHL scoring race, he’s been arguably the league’s most dynamic scoring force over the past seven weeks.

Before the Oilers’ game late Saturday night, Kucherov’s 46 points since Nov. 22 were tied with McDavid for the most over that stretch, and Kucherov’s 33 assists were the most in the league. Kucherov is plus-26 over his past 21 games.

On his first goal 1:49 into Saturday’s game, Kucherov was left uncovered by the right post, where Brayden Point found him after taking the puck from Denver Barkey on the forecheck and drawing attention to himself in the left circle.

Less than two minutes after Garnet Hathaway evened the score at 4:15, deflecting Noah Juulsen’s shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kucherov struck again, this time on the rush.

Kucherov fed Point in the neutral zone, then got the puck back as he crossed the blue line, picking up speed through traffic. He leaned into a snap shot from the left dot, beating Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson high on the far side. Kucherov’s team-high 22nd goal gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 6:05.

Kucherov also had the primary assist on the first of Gage Goncalves’ two goals 2:03 into the third, feeding him on the rush along the right side. Goncalves drove to the net, pulling the puck back and past Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim before beating Ersson under his blocker to make it 4-1.

Kucherov later fed Goncalves for the Lightning’s final goal, with nine minutes remaining.

Rookie defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous had two assists. Nick Paul cleaned up a D’Astous shot with 6:23 left the second period, a huge goal that gave the Lightning a two-goal cushion heading to the third.

Vasilevskiy, who recorded the only shutout against the Flyers this season with a 20-save effort on Nov. 24, stopped 18 of 20 shots Saturday to pick up his seventh straight win.