Kucherov has 2 assists as Lightning beat Blues 3-1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had a pair of assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

Anthony Cirelli, Gage Goncalves and Nick Perbix scored for the Lightning, who have won six of their last seven. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves in the win.

Pavel Buchnevich scored for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington allowed three goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Joel Hofer, who stopped all seven shots he faced.

Cirelli scored his 13th of the season 5:14 into the first period before Perbix made it 2-0 3:42 into the second period. Buchnevich cut the deficit in half at with 7:45 left in the second, but Goncalves responded with his first career goal just over a minute later.

Blues: St. Louis lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Jim Montgomery took over as head coach on Nov. 25.

Lightning: Left wing Jake Guentzel saw his seven-game goal-scoring streak come to an end.

After Buchnevich cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-1, Goncalves, a rookie, scored his first NHL goal 1:18 later to regain a two-goal lead. Goncalves' goal was the last stz

Kucherov has 13 assists during a six-game scoring streak.

The Blues head south to face the Florida Panthers on Friday while the Lightning host the Panthers on Sunday.

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