It seemed that the New York Rangers might have avoided facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning's team leader. This is not the case, as ruled by the lack of suspension provided by theNHL Department of Player Safety. The ruling comes after a brutal hit Nikita Kucherov executed on Florida Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk on Monday, Dec. 23, in which he was issued a five minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing.
On Saturday, the Rangers will return to action for the first time at the holiday break by traveling to Florida to take on Tampa Bay. The Blueshirts are currently tied for last in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 16-17-1. Tampa Bay has six less losses than the Rangers, boasting a record of 19-11-2.
The Rangers are coming off of a 5-0 shutout loss in New Jersey on Monday in the Battle of the Hudson River, while the Lightning most recently had a 4-0 win against the reigning Stanley Cup Championships, the Florida Panthers.
Though, New York is expected to have defenseman K'Andre Miller back in the lineup as he has been officially activated off injured reserve.
Records, recent results and roster moves aside, Nikita Kucherov is obviously the opposing team's player to watch ahead of the Dec. 27 matchup.
Nikita Kucherov
One of the most underrated dirty players in the NHL, Kucherov is also Tampa Bay's leading offensive producer. Across 30 games played — the Maykop, Russia native has tallied 50 points across 15 goals and 35 assists.
At age 31-years-old, he was drafted by TBL in the second round as the No. 58th pick overall. He has played his entire career with Tampa Bay ever since.
The alternate captain has become one of the most dangerous offensive players in the NHL. After missing the entire 2020-21 regular season recovering from hip surgery, Kucherov returned to score 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists) in 23 playoff games to help the Lightning win a second straight Stanley Cup title. He led the playoffs in points (32) with 19 of them coming on the power play to become the sixth player to lead the postseason in scoring without a tie in consecutive seasons, amongst the greats such as Wayne Gretzky.
Most recently — Kucherov became the fifth player in NHL history, and the second of the 2023-24 season, to have 100 assists in a season when he set up Brayden Point's power-play goal in a 6-4 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on April 17, 2024.
He currently has 923 points overall in his career.