When the Tampa Bay Lightning visited the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, forward Nikita Kucherov hit a milestone that could've easily flown under the radar if not for the NHL's Public Relations department.
In his 419th career NHL road game, Kucherov tallied his 500th career road point. The Russian forward achieved that milestone when he scored a goal in the second period when he beat his countryman, Sergei Bobrovsky, with a backhand shot on the rush.
According to NHL Public Relations, Kucherov is the second-fastest active player to hit the 500-point mark on the road, behind only Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid. As for players born outside of North America, Kucherov is the third-fastest to hit the milestone throughout NHL history. He trails just Peter Stastny and Jari Kurri.
Through his entire career, Kucherov has played a total of 836 games and registered 1041 points over the course of 13 seasons. Interestingly, that total does show that Kucherov scores at a slightly higher pace when the Lightning are playing at Benchmark International Arena, however it is far from a significant difference.
This season, Kucherov leads the Lightning in points with 47 and assists with 32 and has appeared in 33 of the team's 37 games.