Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov and Vlad Namestnikov lead Russia in 10-1 win over Italy at IIHF Worlds

With Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy backing them up, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov each tallied four points in a 10-1 blowout of Team Italy on Day 3 of the IIHF World Championship tourney.

While some of the Bolts might be relaxing during the offseason, there is still a good Tampa Bay Lightning contingent participating in the IIHF World Championships. Among those playing on the international stage are Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Andrei Vasilevskiy, representing their home nation of Russia. Vladdy and Kuch made their presence known in a big way on Day 3 of the international tourney, with each contributing four points in a one-sided 10-1 win for Team Russia over Italy, according to NHL.com. In net, Vasy secured his second win.

"“Namestnikov scored a pair of goals and added two assists. Kucherov netted a power-play goal and set up three more goals. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 9-of-10 saves through two periods of play before giving way to Ilya Sorokin to start the third and won his second-straight game to open the tournament. Vasilevskiy has given up just one goal in each victory.”"

According to the official IIHF Twitter account, Russia is atop the IIHF Worlds Power Rankings, followed by Team Canada and Team Sweden. What do all three teams have in common? Representatives of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Alex Killorn and Brayden Point are the Bolts playing for the Canadian contingent, under head coach Jon Cooper, and the Swedefense duo of Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman are manning the blue line for the Swedes.

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Next up for Tampa Bay’s Russians is a game against Germany on Monday, May 8. Hedman and Stralman each pitched in an assist in Sweden’s 7-2 victory over Germany over the weekend. According to NHL.com, Hedman ranked second in time on ice with 24:50, something that shouldn’t surprise any Tampa Bay Lightning fan. Point and Killorn will take the ice for Team Canada against Belarus Monday morning.