TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Brayden Point had two goals and an assist, Nikita Kucherov picked up three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Friday night.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves and picked up his 135th win in his 200th home game. Only Jacques Plante (138) has more in his first 200 home games.
The Lightning also got goals from Alex Killorn, Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul. Kucherov has 21 assists and 31 points this season, and reached 30 points within the first 20 games of a season for the second time; he also did it in the 2017-18 season.
St. Louis' Jordan Binnington stopped 22 shots. He entered 5-0 with a 1.94 goals-against-average against Tampa Bay. Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou both had a goal and an assist, and Robert Thomas collected two assists for the Blues.
Kyrou has three goals and 11 points during a seven-game point streak. Buchnevich and Thomas both have five-game point streaks.
The Blues continued their streaky season with their second straight loss after a seven-game winning streak. They started the season 3-0, then went on an eight-game skid.
Point stopped a seven-game goal drought by scoring twice in the opening half of the first period as Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead. He has four goals in five games against Binnington.
Point and Killorn scored 28 seconds apart. Paul had an empty-netter in the third.
NEARING A MILESTONE
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos extended his point streak to six games (seven assists, 10 points) with two assists and moved within five points of becoming the 95th NHL player to reach 1,000 points,
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blues: D Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) returned after sitting out eight games.
Lightning: LW Rudolfs Balcers left with an upper-body injury in the first after being checked into the boards. … C Ross Colton (upper body, one game) and D Cal Foote (lower body, five games) both played. … F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (personal matter) was scratched.
UP NEXT
Blues: Play Saturday night at Florida.
Lightning: Start a three-game trip at Buffalo on Monday night.
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