THURS FLORIDA HOCKEY RECAP: ON POINT, CATS SHUTOUT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had three goals and three assists, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and four assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers 6-3 on Thursday night.

Steven Stamkos and Anthony Duclair also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves as the Lightning came back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. Tampa Bay holds the top wild card in the Eastern Conference — four points ahead of the New York Islanders and Detroit, who are tied for the second wild card.

Point’s nifty backhand pass to Stamkos during a power-play made it 4-3 with 7:15 left in the third, and Point completed his fourth hat trick 2:03 later before assisting on Kucherov’s empty-netter with 3:38 left for a career-high six points that also tied the team record.

Kucherov, second in the NHL with 112 points, joined Edmonton’s Connor McDavid as the only active players with three or more 70-assist seasons.

Jack Roslovic had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin and Braden Schneider also scored for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin had 22 saves as New York fell to 14-3-1 in its last 18 games.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov had his first goal as a member of the Hurricanes and Frederik Anderson recorded his first shutout in more than a year as Carolina beat the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Thursday night.

Kuznetsov, playing in his fourth game since last week’s trade from the Washington Capitals, joined Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov with goals. Jaccob Slavin had two assists, while another newcomer, Jake Guentzel, posted his first assist with the Hurricanes.

“I understand why I’m here and why this team (acquired) me,” Kuznetsov said. “It’s nice to score once in a while. It’s a relief.”

Andersen stopped 21 shots for his third victory in three outings in an eight-night span since being sidelined since early November. It was his first shutout since March 5, 2023, in his ninth game this season. He has 25 career shutouts.

“We played really good defense by being in their zone,” Andersen said.

It was Carolina’s fifth shutout of the season.

“If we can get that kind of goaltending or even close to it, it’s a good sign for us,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves as the Panthers lost for just the second time in 10 games. Florida was shut out for the fifth time this season.

The Panthers matched a season low mark with 21 shots.

“They were a little quicker,” center Sam Reinhart said. “Just learn from it. They played really well tonight. Certainly things we can adjust and do a little bit better.”

Kuznetsov scored at 8:27 of the second period to give Carolina a 3-0 lead.

For a player known more for his playmaking, seeing Kuznetsov put the puck in the net was critical as well.

“He had to shoot it,” Brind’Amour said of the newcomer’s goal.

Jarvis opened the scoring with 48.6 seconds left in the first period, scoring off a pass from Jordan Staal for his 21st of the season.

“It was just nice to have the lead coming into the locker room,” Jarvis said.

Carolina made it 2-0 just 2:46 into the second period on Necas’ 21st goal. After an initial rebound, Necas drifted to the right side and, when the puck came to him, he buried the shot.

Guentzel, based on a postgame scoring change, picked up the secondary assist on the goal for his first point with the Hurricanes. He was in his second game since arriving in a trade from Pittsburgh.

Svechnikov’s empty-net goal came with 4:18 remaining, his 17th score of the season.

Florida played without forwards Sam Bennett, who was out of the lineup for the first time since early November, and Evan Rodriguez, who missed his second game in a row, with injuries.

“It’s just standard operating procedure in the NHL — you always have three or four guys that are either banged up or are out,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “So I don’t think that’s a factor in our game.”

UP NEXT

Panthers: Hosts Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

Hurricanes: At Toronto on Saturday night to begin a three-game trip.