from Diana C. Nearhos of the Tampa Bay Times,

Nikita Kucherov started Tuesday’s game high and ended it low. He was back in the lineup only three days after getting hurt blocking a shot. But by the end, he was sitting on the bench.

He helped the Lightning give up the lead in the second period with lazy play on defense and a turnover. He also scored first. It was the best of Kucherov and the worst of Kucherov....

Kucherov only played two shifts in the third period and not at all in overtime. Coach Jon Cooper said it was a hard decision, given how big a part of the team Kucherov is.

“As a coach, you make decisions on what was best for us to win tonight,” Cooper said. “He’s a huge part of our team. It could be anyone. As a group, we wanted to put ourselves in the position to win this game.”

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