On the night where the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrated Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 300th career win, the future hall-of-famer stopped all 29 shots he faced from the New Jersey to earn his 36th career shutout in the Lightning’s 4-0 victory. Goals from Nick Paul, Darren Raddysh, Victor Hedman, and Anthony Cirelli provided the offense as the Bolts picked up their second consecutive win.
For most of the night there wasn’t a lot of room on the ice for either team as they locked down on the offensive opportunities. Unlike, their last meeting, a barnburner that the Lightning won 8-5, tight checking and blocked shots ruled the night for both sides. Tampa Bay blocked a season-high 19 shots and limited New Jersey to just 8 high-danger chances.
It was another solid effort in all aspects of the game as the Lightning went 1-for-3 [edited] on the power play while killing off all four penalties against them. New Jersey, who had scored a total of ten goals in their previous two games were held to just 11 scoring chances at 5v5.
Much like they did against Winnipeg, the Lightning scored first as Nick Paul fired a puck past a screened Jacob Markstrom for his fifth goal of the season. After a scoreless second period, Darren Raddysh sent a screamer of a shot past Markstrom to make it 2-0 early in the third period. Victor Hedman scored on the power play seven minutes later to all but ice the game. Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov continued their torrid offensive seasons as they both had two assists on the night.
As for Vasilevskiy, it was a workman-like effort for the big goaltender. He only faced five shots in the the first period, but was much busier in the second thanks to a couple of Lightning penalties. While he didn’t have to be spectacular on any of the stops, the fact that he turned aside all 14 that he faced was a key factor in the Lightning winning. In the third, the defenders in front of him did a good job of pushing much of the offense to the outside, and Vasy wasn’t allowing any loose rebounds all night long.
After two solid wins at home, the Lightning have a chance to pick up some road victories as they take on Pittsburgh and Columbus in their next two outings.
The Lines:
A look at the #GoBolts lines tonight vs NJ (11/7 again) Hagel – Cirelli – Kucherov Guentzel – Paul Goncalves – Geekie – Chaffee Girgensons – Glendening – Eyssimont Hedman – Moser McDonagh – Cernak Lilleberg – Perbix – Raddysh 🦁 Vasilevskiy
— Diandra Loux (@diandraloux.bsky.social) November 16, 2024 at 6:58 PM
First Period:
The Goals
Nick Paul (Jake Guentzel, Emil Lilleberg) 1-0 Lightning
Darren Raddysh (Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli) 2-0 Lightning
Victor Hedman (Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel) Power Play, 3-0 Lightning
Anthony Cirelli (unassisted) Empty Net, 4-0 Lightning
The Charts
