For the second time this season, a talented player has joined a select class of great players.
On Wednesday night, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov became the fifth player in National Hockey League history to reach 100 assists in a single season.
Kucherov registered the point when assisting on Brayden Point’s power-play goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It was Kucherov’s second point of the game, as he scored his 44th goal of the season in the first period.
Prior to the 2023-24 season, only three players had hit the century mark in helpers–Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid reached the milestone on Monday night against the San Jose Sharks.
Kucherov has been having one of the best offensive seasons in recent history. He was the first player to hit the 100-point mark this season, and broke the record for most points in a single season by a Lightning player, surpassing his previous record of 128 points that he registered in 2018-19.
With 144 points, the Russian star leads the league in scoring, sitting six points ahead of Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche. If he were to stop there, he would have registered the 23rd-most points in one NHL season.
He sits 10th in goals and, obviously, tied for first in assists with McDavid.
Kucherov is on a Lightning team gearing up for a heated first-round series with the Florida Panthers, as Tampa has locked in the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, with the Panthers clinching the Atlantic Division for the second time in three seasons.
It will be the third time in the last four playoffs that the Bolts and Cats have met in the postseason. Tampa has beaten Florida in both 2021 and 2022.
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