Nikita Kucherov’s 5-point hat trick powers Lightning past Kraken

Nikita Kucherov scored three goals and added two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning routed the host Seattle Kraken 6-2 on Tuesday.

Brandon Hagel had a goal and three assists, Anthony Cirelli posted a goal and two assists and Gage Goncalves added one of each for the Lightning in the opener of a four-game trip.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves as Tampa Bay earned just its second win in five games.

Bobby McMann and Jared McCann scored for Seattle, which had a modest two-game winning streak end. Philipp Grubauer stopped 19 of 24 shots.

The Lightning took a 2-0 lead in the first period, converting on a pair of Seattle turnovers.

McCann lost the puck at his own blue line, with Brayden Point sending a pass from the high slot to Goncalves near the left post for a tip-in at 5:45.

Kucherov stole the puck from Ben Meyers in the Kraken zone that led to a 2-on-1 rush with Hagel, with a return pass to Kucherov leading to an easy wrister at 18:49.

The Lightning made it 3-0 just 57 seconds into the second as Darren Raddysh's stretch pass down the right wing led to a 3-on-2 rush. Hagel sent a cross-ice pass to Cirelli, who immediately fed Kucherov for a tip-in at the right post.

The Kraken got on the board just 10 seconds later. Matty Beniers leaped to snare a Tampa Bay clearing attempt at the blue line, and after falling to the ice, swept the puck to McMann for a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot that rang high off the left post and into the net.

It was McMann's fourth goal in three games with the Kraken since being acquired from Toronto at the March 6 trade deadline.

Seattle pulled within 3-2 at 9:46 of the middle period, just after a Lightning penalty expired. McCann took a pass from Jordan Eberle in the right corner, skated along the goal line and then darted out to the top of the crease to put a wrist shot high inside the near post.

The Lightning regained a multi-goal lead at 4:35 of the third after Hagel stole the puck from Beniers behind the Seattle net. Hagel skated back to the far edge of the right faceoff circle before centering a pass that deflected off Kucherov's stick to Cirelli, who slammed the puck into the far side of the net from just outside the top of the crease.

Hagel added a power-play goal at 16:54, and Kucherov capped the hat trick with an empty-netter at 17:16.

Tampa Bay's Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, acquired from the Kraken at the 2025 trade deadline, were both honored with video tributes during the game.