Cirelli scores 1st career hat trick, Lightning rout Jets 7-1

Jan 18, 2020, 05:27 am

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Anthony Cirelli had shaving cream on his ear, hair and T-shirt. He didn't mind a bit.

The foam was part of the celebration his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates gave him Friday night after he scored his first career hat trick in a 7-1 rout over the Winnipeg Jets.

“Yeah they were pretty excited,” Cirelli said. “I can’t really hear right now because it’s still in my ear, but I like to have some fun with it and it feels good.”

Nikita Kucherov also scored twice, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for his 10th straight victory, matching the longest winning streak of his career. He had 10 consecutive wins from Feb. 9 to March 5, 2019.

Carter Verhaeghe and Alex Killorn also scored for Tampa Bay, which was coming off a 3-2 loss to Minnesota on Thursday night. Ondrej Palat had three assists, and Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point each had two.

Cirelli, in his third NHL season, scored twice in the first period against Connor Hellebuyck and his third goal went by Laurent Brossoit to make it 6-1 at 7:48 of the third. Cirelli lost control of the puck but regained it and took a shot that went in off the stick of Jets defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to complete the hat trick.

“You know, they don’t come around a lot in this league and it’s super hard,” Cirelli said. “So I will take anything that I can get."

Jack Roslovic scored for the Jets, who ended a three-game homestand 1-2-0. They are 3-3-0 in their past six games.

“They just got off to a hot start,” Roslovic said. “Brush it off and get ready for a big road trip.”

Hellebuyck was pulled midway through the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots. Brossoit replaced him and made 12 saves.

Tampa Bay led 3-0 after seven shots on goal in the first period. Winnipeg had five shots.

“We had a stinker, and we’ve got to move on,” Jets center Mark Scheifele said.

Game notes
A goal by Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers with 3:20 left was disallowed for goaltender interference by Nicholas Shore.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Begins its All-Star break and doesn't play again until Jan. 27 at Dallas.

Jets: Play at Chicago on Sunday.

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