Friday, 4 a.m.
There are brighter stars in the Tampa Bay Lightning's constellation.
He lacks the vision of Nikita Kucherov. He lacks the reach of Andre Vasilevskiy. He isn't as potent as Brandon Hagel or Jake Guentzel.
All Anthony Cirelli does is provide the heart for his team.
Cirelli registered the second hat trick of his career in Thursday's 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Benchmark International Arena.
It was a win that allowed the Bolts to pull into a first-place tie with Buffalo in the Atlantic Division.
Cirelli scored the game's opening goal, a short-handed goal and an empty netter. He now has 23 goals on the season. Cirelli has the second-most goals in a season in his carer, bind only the 27 he scored in 2024-25,
Also scoring for the Bolts were Brayden Point (18th), Zemgus Girgensons (9th) and Nikita Kucherov (41st). Kucherov also had two assists, giving him 124 points (second in the league's scoring race).
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 of 24 shots for his 36th win of the year (most in the league).
The Bolts are home at Benchmark at 5 p.m. Saturday against Boston.