Nikita Kucherov scores first goal to ignite early flurry, Tampa Bay beats Colorado 5-2

DENVER (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the first of three Tampa Bay goals in the opening 5 1/2 minutes and the Lightning beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Wednesday night for their third straight win.

Jake Guentzel and Conor Geekie also scored in the early flurry against goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, who was making his season debut for Colorado after being claimed off waivers from Winnipeg.

Tampa Bay's Anthony Cirelli added an empty net goal with 1:20 left in regulation.

Ivan Ivan tipped in a shot from Cale Makar for a power-play goal late in the first period. Makar added a goal in the third period.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 33 saves, picking up his 299th career victory.

Makar and Nathan MacKinnon were both credited with an assist on Ivan’s goal, extending their season opening point streak to 11 games.

Lightning: Tampa Bay matched a season high with its second three-game winning streak, continuing a pattern of strong play in the first three weeks of the season.

Avalanche: Colorado matched a season low in scoring after losing two more forwards to injury in Ross Colton (broken foot) and Miles Wood (upper-body injury). The banged-up Avalanche were already without Jonathan Drouin (upper body), captain Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder).

Kucherov started the Lightning’s three-goal flurry when he put in a slapshot from the high slot just over a minute into the game, giving Tampa Bay a lead it never relinquished. Brayden Point set him up with a centering pass that Kucherov fired into the net above Kahkonen’s left shoulder.

Tampa Bay got three goals in first five shots on Colorado’s net.

Tampa Bay plays the second in its four-game road trip Friday night at Minnesota. Colorado plays Saturday night at Nashville.

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