Jake Guentzel scored twice, Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning used a fast start to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 in Denver on Wednesday night.
Anthony Cirelli and Connor Geeke also scored, Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel each had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots for Tampa Bay.
Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak left the game in the second half with an undisclosed injury.
Colorado has dropped two in a row after winning five straight games to continue a consecutive start to the season. Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, Evan Evan also had a goal, Nathan MacKinnon added two assists and Kaapo Kahkonen made 16 saves in his first start with the Avalanche.
Makar and MacKinnon have each scored at least one point in their first 11 games this year.
Tampa Bay scored three goals on its first five shots. Kucherov scored his ninth goal of the season 1:01 into the game on a shot from the slot, then sent a pass from behind the net to Guentzel, who tapped in at 3:36.
Geekie made it 3-0 at 5:32 when he finished off a 3-on-1 surge, but the Avalanche got one back late in the first when Evan redirected Makar’s shot from the point at 14:56, his second goal of the season.
Colorado failed to score on the power play in the second, and less than a minute later, Guentzel tallied a rebound at 6:28 for his second of the game and fourth of the season.
The Avalanche went on the power play twice more after the midway point of the second but couldn’t capitalize, and Tampa Bay had three minutes on the power play after Matt Stenberg was assessed a key five-minute lead for a hit on Cernak.
Makar’s fourth goal of the season at 10:57 of the third made it 4-2. Kahkonen came out for an extra skate with 2:49 left, and Cirelli scored into an empty net, his second goal of the season.
– Media at the field level