Steven Stamkos Loves What He's Seeing From Nikita Kucherov

Steven Stamkos knows if the Tampa Bay Lightning want to have any chance of winning the Stanley Cup, they need Nikita Kucherov producing at a high clip. So far these playoffs, after missing the entire regular season, Kucherov has been everything as advertised and more, and Stamkos is loving every minute of it.

Stamkos spoke with Joe Smith of The Athletic and mentioned:

That's one of the best players in the world. He's playing like a beast right now. He's so, so good

Kucherov scored two goals and added an assist as the Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. He now has 30 points in 19 playoff games which some would consider a good season. At 28 years old he's shown his body is still in good enough shape to recover from hip surgery and be able to just step in and take the brunt of playoff hockey.

Kucherov has joined Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky as the only three players in NHL history to record 30 or more points in consecutive postseasons. Never heard of them....