The Tampa Bay Lightning head to Nashville to face the Predators on Saturday afternoon in the wake of a shocking trade request by the league’s reigning most valuable player. Nikita Kucherov, according to multiple reports Friday, requested a trade from the Lightning and informed his teammates on their flight to Nashville.
The Lightning superstar, a two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner, broke Steven Stamkos’ all-time Tampa Bay points record earlier this week. Now the former teammates are set to reunite on the ice, Stamkos in a Nashville uniform and Kucherov under the cloud of his trade request. Kucherov posted the primary assist on Brayden Point’s power-play goal a week ago in Utah to break the mark held by Stamkos, who was the go-to player on the power play during the Lightning’s two Stanley Cup championship seasons early this decade. The chemistry between the two was uncanny. On the club’s vaunted man advantage, Stamkos would perch above the left circle, stick elevated high and ready to fire away, while Kucherov, a playmaking right winger, seemingly always found a way to set him up for a missile on goal.
“It was just fun hockey,” Kucherov said this week of his time with Stammer. Lightning coach Jon Cooper also reflected on the milestone. “You look at the list of the players that have played here — Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier, Victor Hedman, guys that have their names in the rafters — and [Kucherov] stands alone,” Cooper said.
Point had a pedestrian single-point showing in Tampa Bay’s 6-4 home win Thursday, which matched some team history. The 6-0-0 record on their ice equaled the Lightning’s best start ever, a record they can break next Tuesday when they return from a Music City one-off to face the Detroit Red Wings. First-year forward Pontus Holmberg crafted a career-high four points with a goal and three assists on Thursday. “He’s an incredible player,” Brandon Hagel said of Holmberg. “This guy does it all. He’s a Swiss Army knife. You need him to produce, he’ll produce. Need him to shut down, he’ll shut down.”
Meanwhile, Stamkos is doing just fine with the Predators, tied for the lead in goals with seven alongside Ryan O’Reilly, and tied for the team lead in points with 15 alongside Filip Forsberg and captain Roman Josi. However, after tying Washington 3-all on Ross Colton’s marker on Thursday, Nashville watched Alex Tuch beat goaltender Juuse Saros midway through the third period. The 4-3 setback left the Predators 1-1-1 on their five-game homestand. Head coach Andrew Brunette said it was just another squandered opportunity to earn a win at home, where Nashville is 3-3-2.
“I thought we lost a little bit of momentum at different times in the game,” Brunette said. “And I thought we put ourselves in really good position with 10 minutes left. Unfortunately, it was a goal that was probably preventable. I thought it was a good performance tonight; we just didn’t get anything out of it.” Nashville also stands out in one category that oozes with regret: It owns an NHL-high five overtime or shootout losses, denying the team of five more points.
“You could say we’ve let some slip away,” Brunette added. “Obviously the overtime losses change the whole dynamic. … I don’t think there’s frustration. We’re in every hockey game. … We’ve given ourselves chances to collect points. It’s a one-goal league and we lost by one tonight.”
