Lightning's Nikita Kucherov: Massive four-point game

Kucherov set up four goals Thursday in an 8-4 win over New Jersey. One of the assists came on the power play.

It was Kucherov's 35th four-point NHL game. He is climbing the NHL's scoring chart; with the helpers, he now steps onto the NHL's top-five playmakers list and could end up at or near the top of that group by season's end. And Kucherov's 40 points move him into the top-10 overall. This season, Kuch is scoring the hard way -- at even strength -- a lot more. Ten of his 40 points (25 percent) have come on the power play. In the last three seasons, he has put up 37 to 44 percent of his points while on the man advantage. The culprit? The team's power play, which sits 22nd overall with a 17.9 percent success rate. The year before, the Bolts were fifth overall with a 25.9 percent success rate.