TAMPA BAY — Nikita Kucherov doesn’t exactly have a poker face.
“He’s the type of guy where you can tell when things are going good or not going good, on and off the ice, based on his body language,” said ESPN analyst Ryan Callahan, Kucherov’s former linemate with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Things were going good for Kucherov in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Captain Steven Stamkos saw it from the very first shift.
“You can hear the chatter on the bench when he’s coming off [the ice]. The guys knowing that your best player is ‘on’ in a huge game. He was part of setting the tone. Then you look at the end of the game, and he’s contributed to every goal and made great plays on all of them,” Stamkos said.
Kucherov scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the Lightning’s rally from a two-goal deficit. He was active defensively and engaged to the point of antagonism, giving New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin a slash on the back of the leg that was characterized by Rangers coach Gerard Gallant as “the dirt behind the play” in Game 3.
“For everybody, it’s important to step up and elevate your game. You’re down 2-0. You’re on home ice. You want to play better than you did in the first two games,” Kucherov said after the win.
Game 1 saw Kucherov earn a minus-2 and fail to generate a point. His frustration was evident and palpable. His reaction to that effort was expected by his teammates.
“If he doesn’t feel like it’s up to his standards, the next game is usually a really good one,” Stamkos said.
The Lightning have scored five goals since Game 1. Kucherov has a point on all of them.
NHL fans have come to know this version of Kucherov:
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He has the second-highest regular-season points-per-game average behind Connor McDavid over the past three seasons, winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2018-19.
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He has amassed an incredible 88 points in 65 playoff games, helping to lead the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.
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He is unshaken by adversity, and vexations are temporary at best.
But it wasn’t always like this for Kucherov.
“Kuch’s enemy was himself,” coach Jon Cooper said. “He was expecting to be the best player on the ice every single night. He was expecting everything to happen. If it didn’t go well, frustration set in.”
Cooper has coached Kucherov since he was a rookie in 2013-14. It was a whirlwind three years for the winger: playing for the CSKA Red Army Jr. team as an 18-year-old, then in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the Quebec Remparts and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, then splitting time between the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and the Lightning, where Cooper was in his first full season as head coach.
He was a prospect with undeniable offensive skill, but one who produced only 18 points in his first 52 NHL games.
“When you come from a different country, a different culture, it takes time to adjust,” Cooper recalled.
Callahan joined the Lightning in Kucherov’s rookie season. He didn’t know much about the Russian prospect when he was traded to the Lightning in 2014 and started skating on a line with Kucherov and Valtteri Filppula. But the glimpses that he saw of Kucherov’s ability, and that of the team’s other young players, convinced him to sign an extension in Tampa.
“As a younger player, he was skilled, but he obviously isn’t how he is now. It takes confidence but it also takes time to understand the league. To understand what you can and can’t do. When to make that extra move and when not to,” Callahan said.
“It takes time. It’s funny how everybody looks at the league now, and everybody expects these guys to light it up in their first or second year. If they don’t, it’s a bust, right?” he continued. “Well, not every player is like Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, where they can jump into the league and dominate. Some guys, it takes a little longer.”
Things started to click for Kucherov in 2014-15, his second season, thanks to “The Triplets,” a line he formed with center Tyler Johnson and winger Ondrej Palat. It was one of the most effective trios of the past decade in the NHL: The Lightning scored around 67% of the goals at even strength when their line was on the ice in both the regular season and the playoffs, where Tampa Bay went to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to Chicago.
“He was always great. It’s his confidence: He knows he’s good,” said Palat, whom Kucherov set up for the game winner with 42 seconds left in Game 3. (Johnson, the third “Triplet,” was moved due to salary-cap concerns, and is now playing with the Chicago Blackhawks.)
Kucherov hit 30 goals for the first time in 2015-16, and then scored 40 in 2016-17. The following season was his first 100-point campaign, which coincided with a key development in his game: his playmaking abilities, as he tallied 61 assists that season.
“The part of his game that probably doesn’t get enough credit are his playmaking abilities. Everybody talks about his shot and his release and things like that. But his patience with the puck and his ability to find his teammates probably stick out for me the most,” Callahan said. “He’s grown in that department. He’s learned how to draw defenders in and find his teammates when they’re open. Sees the ice very well.”
The offense was there. But Kucherov, and many of his teammates, had yet to comprehend what Cooper was trying to instill in them: That ultimate team success had to start with championship-level defense.
“Kuch isn’t just an example of it. I think he’s probably the best example of it,” Callahan said.
“There’s no question that there was a bit of a battle there between him and Coop. They butted heads at times, trying to figure it out. But he got him to buy into that system. That you have to do that to win. When I was there, we weren’t fully committed to that, and we didn’t win.”
In fact, the Lightning had to lose in epic fashion to fully commit to it — a loss that embarrassed Kucherov specifically.
Cooper acknowledges that he can’t stop talking about 2019.
It was the nadir of this Lightning core, an embarrassing first-round sweep by the Columbus Blue Jackets after the Lightning posted the second-best regular season in NHL history. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was one of the worst showings of Kucherov’s career, too. He went scoreless in Games 1 and 2, and then was suspended for Game 3 after a reckless hit from behind on Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara in the third period with Tampa trailing 5-1.
The NHL Department of Player Safety called the hit an example of “message sending” late in a game and with the series slipping away: “While we understand that frustration often occurs at the end of a game, dangerous or retaliatory plays delivered in the final minutes of a playoff game will be viewed in context and punished accordingly.”
Kucherov returned for Game 4 and had two assists, but the damage was done — to the Lightning’s playoff hopes and to his ego.
“You look at the frustration in all of us in that series. Kuch was one of them. He got suspended in one of those games because of his frustration,” Cooper said. “Now, did that moment change him? I think there were some little moments before that and after that have all come to fruition to what we have as the player today. That’s growth.”
The Lightning have played 10 playoff rounds since then. They’ve won all of them. Kucherov has played 62 playoff games since then. He has scored at least one point in 44 of them. But it’s not only his production that’s notable, but his all-around play.
“You watch him now, and he’s backchecking hard. He’s always in the right position. And I think he’s learned that by doing that, by worrying about his D-zone, it’s opening up more offense for him,” Callahan said. “He’s evolved through the years. I don’t think he came into the league and blew everybody’s pants off as an amazing player. But he evolved into it.”
That evolution led to moments like those in Game 3 against the Rangers. He scored a power-play goal to cut into the Rangers’ 2-0 lead. He helped create a Stamkos goal early in the third period to tie the game. Then came his slick touch pass to Palat for the game winner.
“Kuch made some unreal plays,” said defenseman Victor Hedman. “You see Kuch in the slot and you try to give him the puck. Unreal pass to Pally.”
Cooper said it’s the kind of performance that’s expected from a star player who’s his own toughest critic.
“The only person he gets frustrated with is himself. That’s probably the one thing I have to coach,” Cooper said.
“He’s won a Hart Trophy, he’s been an electrifying player, he has two Stanley Cup rings. When you get that far, these teams have these kinds of players on them. That’s what Kuch is. He’s a unique, special talent. But any time when you’re the last team standing, there’s a player or maybe two that are game-breakers. And he’s that for us.”