Trio of Milestones power Lightning to a 4-3 win over Anaheim in a thriller in Tampa 

The energy was electric inside Benchmark International Arena on Saturday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning got themselves back in the win column on a night where not one, not two, but three of their starters found themselves making history. When the final buzzer went off, the Lightning were on top 4-3 as they secured their second win of the season in exciting fashion. The crowd brought the thunder, the Lightning struck, and the Lightning won!

Jake Guentzel go the Lightning on the scoreboard first with the lone goal of the first period. His wrist shot 9:10 into the period put the Lightning on top 1-0 with assists by Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli who had a huge night for Tampa Bay.

Anaheim scored their first goal of the match 4:42 into the second period to tie it up 1-1. Jacob Trouba scored his second goal of the season on a slap shot that was assisted by Troy Terry and Mason McTavish.

The Lightning then went back-to-back in the second period to extend their lead to 3-1. Their second goal of the night came on a deflected shot by Guentzel (his second of the night and fourth of the year). He was assisted by Brayden Point and making history, Nikita Kucherov who’s fourth assist of the season marked a milestone 1,000 career points for the 32-year old from Maikop, Russia. He became just the second Lightning player to reach the milestone and the fastest from Tampa to ever do it.

History continued for Tampa Bay skaters as their third goal of the day belonged to Anthony Cirelli. His backhand shot was assisted by two historic milestones: Brandon Hagel’s assist marked his 300th career point and the assist from Victor Hedman marked Hedman’s 800th career assist as the milestones were flying across the ice on Saturday.

The Ducks made things interesting in the third period when they scored two goals in under a minute. The first was by Ryan Poehling with assists from Ross Johnston and Drew Helleson that made it a 3-2 game and then Terry scored with assists by Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson to tie it up 3-3 and raise the pressure inside Benchmark International Arena.

But the Lightning continued to skate hard and with just over three minutes left to play, Cirelli pushed his second goal of the night and the fifth of his season through the Ducks’ net on a power play goal by wrist shot to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead they never looked back on. Kucherov (Point No. 1,001) and Hedman (Point No. 301) had the assists as the Lightning went on to secure their second win of the season and their first in front of their home crowd in Tampa Bay.

It was only right that they went on to claim victory on a night when three of their players marked career milestones. On a special and electric night, the Lightning go to sleep happy.

It’s a quick turn around now for Tampa Bay as they return to the ice at Benchmark International Arena on Sunday at 5:00PM EST to take on the 5-0-2 Las Vegas Golden Nights.