Hagel scores 2 points, Point has 4 assists in the Lightning’s 8-1 win over the Sharks

TAMPA, Fla. – Brayden Point had four assists and Brandon Hagel scored two goals to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to an 8-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Jake Guentzel, Conor Geekie and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and an assist. Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix and Nicholas Paul scored the Lightning’s other goals.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 20 saves.

Alex Wennberg scored for San Jose, while Vitek Vanecek suffered the loss after allowing five goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood early in the second period. Blackwood made 21 saves.

After Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead in the first period, Hagel scored two goals 23 seconds apart to make it 4-0. It is the third-fastest time the same player scored two goals in Lightning history, behind Steve Downie (11 seconds on February 12, 2012) and Jason Wiemer (15 seconds, October 3, 1997).

Sharks: San Jose’s three-game winning streak came to an end, and rookie Macklin Celebrini saw his point streak come to an end after five games.

Lightning: Four Tampa Bay players named to the Four Nations Faceoff – Point and Hagel for Canada, Guentzel for the United States and Victor Hedman for Sweden – all played multi-point games, totaling four goals and 11 points.

Tampa Bay had a 1-0 lead when Vasilevskiy had to stop Mikael Granlund on a 2-on-1 rush at 7:14 of the first period. Vasilevskiy shot the puck aside to counter, which Geekie completed and gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead 15 seconds later.

Tampa Bay scored five goals in the opening period for the second time this season (November 25 vs. Colorado), marking the first time in franchise history that the Lightning have achieved that feat multiple times in the same season.

The Sharks play the Panthers on Saturday while the Lightning play the Canucks on Sunday.