For once, we didn’t jinx the Tampa Bay Lightning by waxing poetically about the play of Andrei Vasilevskiy in our preview this morning. The Bolts netminder continued his stellar play as he posted a 27-save shutout against the Calgary Flames as the Lightning ended their home stand with a 3-0 win. With the victory, the Lightning end the month of February with a 7-0-1 record.
It wasn’t the prettiest game for either team as sloppy play on both ends was the dominating characteristic for most of the night. Pucks in skates and missed connections on passes doesn’t lead to much offense. Nor does having two of the best goaltenders in the league denying any opportunities that did manifest themselves. Opposite of Vasilevskiy, Dustin Wolf was matching him save for save and ended the night with 20 saves on 22 shots.
Despite their struggles at 5v5 play (they had just 5 shots on goal and 1 high-danger chance) in the first period, the Lightning did get on the board first thanks to their power play. Even that goal was more of an accident than an intentional play.
Nikita Kucherov (Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 1-0 Lightning
Kucherov tried to slip a path through traffic to Brandon Hagel on the far side of the ice but it hit MacKenzie Weegar’s skate and past Wolf. Even Kucherov was a bit sheepish after the puck went in.
Fast forward to the second period and the turning point of the game (at least in our humble opinion). With six minutes to go in the period, the Lightning had another power play, unfortunately, they didn’t get any luck bounces on this one and the two minutes went by without a goal. Following the power play, Calgary put pressure on the Bolts, a lot of pressure.
Just when it looked like they were going to bend too far and possibly break, they were able to knock a shot down just inside the blueline and clear the puck out of the zone and down the ice without icing it, alleviating the pressure and keeping the Flames off of the board.
Patience has been a virtue for the Lightning during their winning streak and they haven’t sacrificed defense to chase offense. They’ve waited for their opportunities and cashed in when they had the chance. In this case it was Erik Cernak charging down the slot to finish off a nice feed from Brandon Hagel.
Erik Cernak (Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli) 2-0 Lightning
Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal for even more insurance, and the Lightning had a 3-0 victory.
Brandon Hagel (Victor Hedman) Empty Net, 3-0 Lightning
The Lightning kept pace with Florida (who also won) and moved within two points of Toronto, who were idle. They also picked up a couple of points on Detroit who is in the first wild-card spot with 66 points. Now they take their show on the road against Washington and Florida, two pretty tough opponents.
