With two empty-net goals, Nikita Kucherov recorded his sixth career hat trick as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 to open the season. Kucherov ended up contributing to all four goals as he assisted on Brayden Point’s power-play goal in the second period before scoring a special team goal of his own in the third period. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20-of-21 shots to pick up his 294th career win.
Conor Geekie made his NHL debut and recorded one hit in 10:07 of ice time. Jake Guentzel recorded two assists (both on empty net goals by Kucherov) in his Lightning debut.