VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has scored his 500th regular-season NHL goal. The 32-year-old center took a slick pass from Alex Killorn and put a backdoor tap in past Vancouver Canucks goalie Spencer Martin to open the scoring 4:40 into the first period on Wednesday.
Players poured out of the Lightning bench and mobbed Stamkos in the corner as the crowd cheered.
He's the third active skater to score 500 goals, following Washington's Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.
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.
