Wright scores, Kraken fall to Lightning 4-1

TAMPA, Fla. - Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night.

Nikita Kucherov, Luke Glendening and Nick Paul scored in the third period and Brandon Hagel added his third short-handed goal of the season as the Lightning improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven games.

Shane Wright scored, and Ales Stezka finished with 19 saves in his NHL debut for Seattle.

Seattle Kraken center Shane Wright (51) and Florida Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt (88) go after the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

After a scoreless first period, Hagel gave the Lightning the lead when he raced up ice to fend off Oliver Bjorkstrand and put a spinning backhander on goal for his league-leading seventh short-handed score of the season at 9:27 of the second period.

Kucherov and Glendening scored 1:43 apart in the third period to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Wright tipped in a shot by Brandon Montour to cut it 3-1 at 15:24. Paul added an empty-net goal.

Takeaways

Kraken: Seattle fell to 0-9 in the second half of back-to-back games. Stezka, a 28-year-old rookie, became the first goalie to make an NHL debut with the Kraken.

Lightning: Tampa Bay recorded its 10th short-handed goal of the season, second-most in the league behind Florida (12). … Defenseman J.J. Moser returned to the lineup after missing 28 games with an undisclosed lower-body injury.

Key moment

Tampa Bay was nursing a one-goal lead in the third period when the Lightning scored off a set faceoff play. Brayden Point pulled a puck off the draw back to Nikita Kucherov, who scored on a quick shot past Stezka at 11:15 of the third.

Key stat

Tampa Bay improved to 7-0-1 all-time against Seattle.

What's next:

Both teams play Tuesday. Seattle is at St. Louis, while Tampa Bay hosts Edmonton.

The Source: Information in this story is from the Associated Press.