LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a strong start last season Ryan Murray Jersey , only to lose momentum after Christmas.They aren’t about to let that happen again, as the Los Angeles Kings found out.Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists as the Lightning kept steamrolling along, beating the Kings 6-2 on Thursday night for their seventh straight victory.“This group has been together for quite a while, so we know what we’re capable of,” Tampa Bay forward Ryan Callahan said. “Make sure we continue to rise and continue to play well, not have that dip we had last year, and so far out of the break we’ve done that.”The NHL-leading Lightning have earned at least one point in 16 consecutive games — the longest streak in the league this season. They are 15-0-1 during the run.“We’re on a good stretch, obviously, and we’re having fun with it,” Callahan said. “We’re coming to the rink and we’re ready to work is the biggest thing. Tonight was no different.”Steven Stamkos added a goal and two assists, and Brayden Point had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for his sixth consecutive win.Austin Wagner and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings Sergei Bobrovsky Jersey , who have lost three of four. Jonathan Quick stopped 27 shots.The Lightning jumped out in front 3-0 in the first period, with Kucherov getting his 400th NHL point by scoring during a 5-on-3 power play at 6:28.“He’s dangerous every time he’s on the ice, and you give our team a 5-on-3 there at the beginning, you kind of expect Kucher and these guys to put it in the back of the net,” Mathieu Joseph said.Kucherov has eight goals and 19 assists during a 12-game point streak. He has scored in five straight games and has seven consecutive multipoint games, getting at least four points in three of his past five.Point made it 2-0 at 7:53 during the same two-man advantage, and Callahan scored on a breakaway at 14:05.“When you play a team like that, you know you have to play well or they can make you look bad in your own rink, so our guys were ready ’cause they knew that could happen,” Kings coach Willie Desjardins said.Ryan McDonagh pushed it to 4-0 just 25 seconds into the second period before Wagner scored at 7:55 for the Kings. Stamkos scored a power-play goal at 17:05.Joseph extended the lead to 6-1 at 10:04 of the third period as the Lightning scored at least six goals for the fourth time in five games.As dominant as the offense was, Callahan was just as pleased with the defensive effort.Tampa Bay has allowed three goals over the past two games after conceding a total of 10 in the previous two outings Womens Seth Jones Jersey , though Doughty scored a second goal for Los Angeles on the power play at 17:36.“The quicker you nip it and the quicker you realize areas that you need to improve in even when you’re winning, the better off you are as a team and we’re doing that,” Callahan said.NOTES: Kucherov is the first player from the 2011 draft to reach the 400-point milestone. … Point has three goals and 10 assists during an eight-game point streak. … Lightning D Victor Hedman had an assist for the fifth straight game. … Kings forward Dustin Brown played in his 1,077th career game, tying Luc Robitaille for second-most in Kings history.UP NEXTLightning: Conclude their three-game California road trip at San Jose on Saturday.Kings: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau believes the typical sense of urgency to make a playoff push is hitting teams earlier than normal this season.It certainly seemed that way for the Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Disappointing home losses and tightening standings have a way of doing that.“The sense of urgency is there,” Boudreau said. “I’ve got to believe it’s going to be quite a race from here on in.”Zach Parise scored his team-leading 20th goal and Devan Dubnyk had 19 saves as the Wild held off the Blue Jackets 2-1.The Wild bounced back from a listless 3-0 defeat to Anaheim by sending the Blue Jackets to their second straight loss.Jordan Greenway also scored his ninth goal for Minnesota, which pulled into a tie with the Ducks for the final playoff spot in the West.“I think we were all disappointed with last game,” Dubnyk said of Thursday night’s loss, in which Minnesota allowed three first-period goals. “We have a lot of pride and our fans are great here and we don’t like giving them efforts like that. I think everybody was ready and prepared to come out and play, regardless of how the game went.”The Blue Jackets were coming off a tough loss of their own Sonny Milano Jersey , falling 4-1 on Friday night at home to Montreal. That loss knocked them out of the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.Columbus won’t play again until January 29. While this certainly wasn’t the way they wanted to enter the All-Star break, the players said they plan to use the time away to reset.“It’s going to feel good to get a break,” Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “I didn’t think yesterday we played horribly. I think we still could have got a point — we didn’t. I think today just kind of the same thing. We did some good things, some bad things, but the break’s going to feel really good to relax a little bit.”Artemi Panarin scored Columbus’ lone goal, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots.Off to their second-best start in franchise history, the Blue Jackets entered the game 14-3-1 when coming off a loss this season.But they couldn’t muster much offense against a Wild team that was 1-3-0 after the loss to Anaheim, and scrapping to stay in the Western Conference playoff race.“I don’t know where the standings are going to shake out, but we’re still right there in the mix regardless of how dark it’s been at times the last little while, we’re still right there,” Parise said.Minnesota outshot Columbus 31-20 http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-zach-werenski-jersey , including 15-6 in the second period.“We wasted a great effort by Bob,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said of his goalie. “It’s mind-boggling what we do when we get near that net and how many pucks we shoot wide or over handle.”Minnesota scored first for only the 18th time in 48 games when Greenway took a pretty pass from Eric Staal at 16:07 of the first, and fired a sharp one-timer from the left circle past Bobrovsky. Eighty-nine seconds later, Parise made it 2-0 when Pontus Aberg tried to clear the puck from behind the net. His attempt appeared to hit off a defender’s skate and went right to Parise, who scored from the slot.Panarin scored on a wrister from the left circle at 3:07 of the second period. Dubnyk was screened by Nick Foligno on the shot.NOTES: : Newcomers Aberg and Victor Rask assisted on Parise’s goal, their first points with the Wild since being traded earlier in the week from Anaheim and Carolina, respectively. . Columbus had only six shots in the third period. … Parise has scored 20 goals in nine of 14 NHL seasons. . The Wild improved to 13-2-1 when leading after two. . Rask’s introduction to the home crowd was a bit anticlimactic. He served a two-minute penalty when Minnesota was whistled for too many men on the ice at 2:20 of the first period.UP NEXT:Blue Jackets: Off for the All-Star break, then hosting Buffalo on Jan. 29.Wild: At Vegas on Monday.
