Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights

· National Hockey League

Tampa Bay Lightning

7-5-2

Final
6 - 3

Vegas Golden Knights

7-3-3

Kucherov scores twice in third period as Lightning beat Golden Knights 6-3

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Vegas Golden Knights: Game Highlights

Brandon Hagel also had two goals and an assist for the Lightning, while Gage Goncalves and Dominic James added goals. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves. James and Oliver Bjorkstrand also had a pair of assists each.

Ivan Barbashev had two goals and an assist for Vegas while Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists. Carl Lindbom stopped 21 shots for the Golden Knights.

The game was tied 2-2 after two periods but Kucherov scored his first 2:48 into the third to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead.

Marner tied it at 3-all less than a minute later but Hagel's goal 35 seconds after that gave Tampa Bay the lead for good. Kucherov got his second on the power play with 5:47 to play to make it 5-3 and Hagel scored into an empty net with less than a minute to play.

Barbashev scored two goals in the first to give Vegas a 2-0 lead after one, but Goncalves and James scored in the second to make 2-2 after two.

The Golden Knights went scoreless on the power play in three chances.

Up next Lightning: Home against Washington on Saturday night.

Golden Knights: Home against Anaheim on Saturday night.

Regular Season Series

TB wins series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 7:25	Ivan Barbashev Goal (5) Backhand, assists: Noah Hanifin (1), Mitch Marner (12)
Goal	1st Period 15:53	Ivan Barbashev Goal (6) Snap Shot, assists: Mitch Marner (13), Jack Eichel (12)
Goal	2nd Period 0:36	Gage Goncalves Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Dominic James (1)
Goal	2nd Period 3:28	Dominic James Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Oliver Bjorkstrand (3), J.J. Moser (2)
Goal	3rd Period 2:47	Nikita Kucherov Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Oliver Bjorkstrand (4), Jake Guentzel (8)
Goal	3rd Period 3:37	Mitch Marner Goal (4) Wrist Shot, assists: Jack Eichel (13), Ivan Barbashev (8)
Goal	3rd Period 4:12	Brandon Hagel Goal (5) Wrist Shot, assists: Dominic James (2)
Goal	3rd Period 14:13	Nikita Kucherov Goal (7) Slap Shot, assists: Victor Hedman (11), Brandon Hagel (6)
Goal	3rd Period 19:13	Brandon Hagel Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Nikita Kucherov (7)

Statistics

TB		VGK
16	Blocked Shots	17
11	Hits	13
9	Takeaways	2
27	Shots	32
2	Power Play Goals	0
4	Power Play Opportunities	3
50.0	Power Play Percentage	0.0
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
22	Faceoffs Won	32
40.7	Faceoff Win Percent	59.3
8	Giveaways	13
2	Total Penalties	4
6	Penalty Minutes	8

Vegas Golden Knights Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Pavel Dorofeyev, RW	Day-To-Day	Dec 13

Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Brandon Hagel, LW	Day-To-Day	Dec 15
Emil Lilleberg, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Ryan McDonagh, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Erik Cernak, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 13