Cirelli scores 1st career hat trick, Lightning rout Jets 7-1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Anthony Cirelli got his first career hat trick, Nikita Kucherov scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning routed the Winnipeg Jets 7-1 on Friday night.
Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for his 10th straight victory, matching the longest winning streak of his career. He had 10 consecutive wins from Feb. 9 to March 5, 2019.
Carter Verhaeghe and Alex Killorn also scored for Tampa Bay, which was coming off a 3-2 loss to Minnesota on Thursday night. Ondrej Palat had three assists, and Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point each had two.
Cirelli, in his third NHL season, scored twice in the first period against Connor Hellebuyck and his third goal went by Laurent Brossoit to make it 6-1 at 7:48 of the third. Cirelli lost control of the puck but regained it and took a shot that went in off the stick of Jets defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to complete the hat trick.
Jack Roslovic scored for the Jets, who ended a three-game homestand 1-2-0. They are 3-3-0 in their past six games.
Hellebuyck was pulled midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots. Brossoit replaced him and made 12 saves.
Tampa Bay led 3-0 after seven shots on goal in the first period. Winnipeg had five shots.
NOTES: A goal by Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers with 3:20 left was disallowed for goaltender interference by Nicholas Shore.
UP NEXT
Lightning: Begins its All-Star break and doesn’t play again until Jan. 27 at Dallas.
Jets: Play at Chicago on Sunday.
