COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Sure, Nikita Kucherov can make silky smooth assists. He can find teammates before they even know their open. But the Lightning's playmaker extraordinaire can also score.
Kucherov showed off his scoring touch with almost identical backhand goals 3:09 apart in the first period.
He has racked up points this year. He has 99 points and 29 multipoint games, and yet, Monday's 5-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets was only his fourth multigoal game of the season.
Earlier this week, after recording three assists, Kucherov said he likes drawing opponents to himself and then finding a teammate for the goal.
He did more of that as well, assisting Brayden Point twice and Steven Stamkos once for his first ever five-point game.
