LAS VEGAS (AP) — Anthony Cirelli scored twice, Nikita Kucherov had three points to tie Tampa Bay’s career scoring record, and the Lightning extended their strong start by beating the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 on Tuesday night.

The Lightning (7-2) are off to their best start since opening 7-1-1 in 2020-21, when they repeated as Stanley Cup champions.

Vegas had won seven of eight.

Kucherov has at least one point in all 15 games he’s played against the Golden Knights. That ranks behind only Mario Lemieux (26 games against Calgary) and Tomas Sandstrom (17 games against Tampa Bay) among players who scored in every game against an opponent. Connor McDavid had a 17-game streak against New Jersey that ended in January.

With a goal and two assists, Kucherov increased his total to 1,137 career points, pulling even with former teammate Steven Stamkos for the club record.

Brandon Hagel, John Carlson and Victor Hedman also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots.

Ivan Barbashev scored his first goal of the season for the Golden Knights, and Mark Stone got his fifth in three games. Carter Hart made 15 saves on 21 shots.

Cirelli gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead 6:44 into the second period off a pass from Kucherov, then scored unassisted to make it 4-2 at 10:09.

Both teams played a wide-open game. Each side scored twice in the first period before the Lightning broke it open with three goals in the second for a 5-2 lead. Those five goals came on 14 shots, the last from the left point by Hedman that somehow got by Hart late in the second.

Kucherov’s breakaway goal early in the third made it 6-2.

Golden Knights forward Brett Howden, drafted 27th overall by the Lightning in 2016, played in his 500th career game. It was his 322nd for Vegas.

Up next

Lightning: Visit the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

Golden Knights: Visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.