Nikita Kucherov reaches 500 assists as Lightning ease past Wild

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had three assists to reach 500 for his career, Anthony Cirelli scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Minnesota Wild 7-3 on Thursday night.

Kucherov, who leads the league with 75 points, had his fourth game this season with three or more assists. He reached the milestone in his 688th game, the third-fewest among active players behind Connor McDavid (527) and Sidney Crosby (554).

Waltteri Merela, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 30 saves.

Jake Middleton had a goal and two assists for the Wild, his second three-point game of the season. Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi had the other goals for Minnesota, which fell to 2-8-1 in its last 11 games. Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots.

Kucherov’s milestone assist came on Stamkos’ power-play goal early in the third. It was the 205th career pwoer-play goal for Stamkos, tying Joe Sakic for 16th all-time.

The Wild opened the scoring on Eriksson Ek's goal 5:17 into the game. Tampa Bay answered 55 seconds later on Hedman's eighth goal of the season.

Tampa Bay build a two-goal lead in the second on Cirelli's first goal and the first career goal from Merela 3:20 into the period. The Lightning led 4-3 by the end of the second.

Essiymont's power-play goal at 6:59 of the third gave the Lightning a three-goal advantage, and Cirelli capped off the night with his 10th goal of the season with 2:08 remaining.

Minnesota announced earlier Thursday that captain Jared Spurgeon will miss the remainder of the season with hip and back injuries that will require separate surgeries.

UP NEXT

Wild: At Florida on Friday.

Lightning: At Buffalo on Saturday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl