TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos scored his 500th NHL goal Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.
Stamkos needed just one goal heading into the game to reach the historic milestone, and he is now the third active NHL player to reach 500 goals and 1000 points.
The league veteran scored his anticipated goal in the first period to put the Lightning ahead 1-0 on the night after taking a slick pass from Alex Killorn and put a backdoor tap in past Canucks goalie Spencer Martin.
Since Tampa Bay was playing on the road, Stamkos was not able to celebrate the amazing accomplishment amongst Bolts fans, but he can expect some sort of great welcoming when the teams returns on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
On Dec. 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers, Stamkos became the 95th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points. He also tallied 500 assists a couple of weeks ago prior to the game that day.
Selected first overall by the Lightning in the 2008 draft, Stamkos has played all 15 seasons of his NHL career for Tampa Bay and amassed 1,022 points (500 goals, 522 assists) over 965 regular-season appearances.
The Markham, Ontario, native won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the club in 2020 and 2021 and took the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer in 2010 and 2012.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
