Nikita Kucherov reaches assists milestone in win over Red Wings (2025)

Published Jan. 19|Updated Jan. 19

TAMPA — As Nikita Kucherov crossed the blue line along the right wing and collected a pass from Victor Hedman, he surveyed the ice in front of him. And like few players can, he made a remarkably difficult play look simple while leaving an entire arena astonished.

Saturday night belonged to Kucherov — even though he had few words to celebrate — not just for his dazzling goal against Detroit, but because his two assists made him the second Lightning player to record 600 for his career days after Hedman became the first (though it took Hedman 326 more games).

Kucherov fueled a four-goal second period — three were scored in the first four minutes — recording the primary assist on two power-play goals and scoring his 21st goal of the season in dynamic fashion.

It was an important 5-1 win against a surging division rival, who they’ll face again in a week. The Lightning entered the night just 2-6-0 against Atlantic Division opponents.

Kucherov reached 600 assists in the third-fewest career games among active players behind only Connor McDavid (616 games) and Sidney Crosby (704), accomplishing the milestone in 767. Kucherov extended his point streak to eight games, and his 68 points were second most in the league (ahead of the late games).

‘An elite player being special’

As Hedman’s pass came toward Kucherov, he lifted his stick to fake a one-time shot, drawing Detroit star right wing Patrick Kane toward him.

Kucherov then pushed the puck to his backhand side and streaked past Kane along the outside. He slowed down as he crossed the right dot, went to his forehand side and cut toward the middle of the ice between the hashes, leaving left wing Alex DeBrincat crossed up.

The front of the net cleared for Kucherov in the slot, and he rifled a shot top shelf that beat Detroit goaltender Cam Talbot over his glove side to put the Lightning up 3-0 at the 1:50 mark in the second.

✨ Brilliant ✨ pic.twitter.com/q5mwQP2W2B

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) January 19, 2025

“That’s just an elite player being special,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I think Patrick Kane is a Hall of Fame player in this league, a class guy and somebody I think Kuch has modeled himself after. And those two guys were on the ice against each other all night.

“It’s probably a cool moment for Kuch. … To do it with a player of Kane’s stature in the building."

Withstanding tight moments

Nikita Kucherov reaches assists milestone in win over Red Wings (1)

The Lightning went into the second period up 1-0 on Brayden Point’s 27th goal of the season just 2:02 into the game. But the Red Wings — who came to Amalie Arena pushing their way toward a playoff position having won eight of their last nine games — dominated in 5-on-5 play in the first, leading the Lightning in 5-on-5 shots on goal (12-6), shot attempts (24-12) and scoring chances (13-4).

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Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy — who made 39 saves on the night, his second-highest total of the season — kept it a one-goal game by thwarting DeBrincat’s one-timer on a 2-on-1 breakaway with Kane, cutting off the post with a right pad save with 6:58 left in the first.

“He’s been consistent the whole year,” Kucherov said of Vasilevskiy. “He’s been our best player, so we’ve got to play better in front of him.”

Vasilevskiy stopped all 30 even-strength shots he saw, with the only goal against him coming in the 11 minutes, 56 seconds of power play time the Lightning gave the Red Wings.

“For me, personally, a few shots in the first period helps a lot to feel the puck, feel a little bit of that confidence that I need sometimes,” Vasilevskiy said. “The guys, they were able to get through the first period.”

Power play provides boost again

Nikita Kucherov reaches assists milestone in win over Red Wings (2)

After the Lightning were awarded a power play four seconds into the second period, they took over. Kucherov found Jake Guentzel in the paint, where Guentzel went from his backhand to his forehand and beat Talbot through the five hole 16 seconds into the period.

After Mitchell Chaffee’s 5-on-5 goal put the Lightning up 4-0, the Red Wings responded on the power play as Lucas Raymond scored on a one-timer from the left circle on a cross-ice pass from Kane.

But Kucherov wasn’t done on the power play, taking a pass from Darren Raddysh, again lifting his stick to fake a shot while drifting down below the right circle, then feeding it back to Raddysh at the point, where he rocketed a shot from long distance into the back of the net to give Tampa Bay a 5-1 lead and force a Chicago timeout.

Raddysh’s goal was the Lightning’s fourth on the power play in the past two games after just three power-play goals over the previous nine. Cooper shuffled personnel between his two power-play units before the Lightning’s last game against Anaheim.

“I like our personnel,” Raddysh said. “I think we’ve got a lot of good guys that can move the puck around and shoot. Whoever’s out there, I think is pretty confident to get the job done.”

Kucherov received a rousing ovation and long “Kuuuch” chants from the Amalie Arena crowd after the video board noted he reached his 600th assist.

Asked about reaching the milestone, Kucherov simply said, “Cool.”

“Well, you got four letters out of him,” Cooper joked. “There’s not enough time to talk about what Kuch has meant to this organization and to this league, quite frankly. He’s a generational player, and hopefully we get to see hundreds more of those in the future.”

• • •

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Nikita Kucherov reaches assists milestone in win over Red Wings (2025)
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