Andrei Vasilevskiy was perfect on a night when the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia played an entertaining, but low-scoring game that ended with the Bolts victorious by a score of 2-0. Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway, and then assisted on Jake Guentzel’s late power-play goal to broach the 95-point milestone on the season. Ivan Fedotov was the had-luck loser in net as he stopped 17-of-18 shots, including three golden chances by Brandon Hagel.
The first period started off with both teams skating at a pretty good pace, but accomplishing little of actual relevance. The Flyers were the gang that couldn’t shoot straight as five of their first six shot attempts went wide of the net. Meanwhile the Lightning were getting their shots off, but most of them were coming from distance. Brandon Hagel had his first Grade A look early in the period as he tried to find the inside of the near post while cutting across the ice, but Fedotov’s glove was in the way.
Tampa Bay built an early shot advantage, but couldn’t beat the young netminder. Brayden Point’s shooting woes (1 goal in his last 11 games) continued as he stutter-stepped through a couple of defenders but the final effort was lacking as his shot dotted the middle of the “P” on Fedotov’s jersey.
Midway through the period, with Yanni Gourde in the penalty box, the Flyers targeting systems improved and they peppered the Lightning net with shots with five reaching Vasilevskiy. He swatted them all aside, including a brilliant blocker save on Matvei Michkov.
Philadelphia had a nice run of play following the advantage, but the Lightning worked their way back into control and Kucherov drew a penalty as he cut in front of the net before being upended. The power play was short-lived as Jake Guentzel was given an unsportsmanlike penalty on the face-off for saying something to the referee.
Fewer players on the ice meant more room for Nikita Kucherov and he made the most of it as he dispossessed Travis Konecny of the puck and broke down the ice with nary a Flyer in his way. A subtle little move later he roofed it past Fedotov to the delight of the crowd.
Through the first portion of the contest the Lightning were not conceding many dangerous chances, but had to rely on the reflexes of their goaltender early in the second period when a puck was flipped into the zone by a Flyer that an unmarked Owen Tippett gloved down and fired on net in one fluid motion. Vasilevskiy was equal to the challenge as he knocked it aside.
The Flyers high-pressure penalty kill flummoxed the Lightning for the majority of their first extended power play. Towards the end of it, Yanni Gourde had a chance from the side of the net, but Fedotov’s long right leg eliminated the sliver of space Gourde was trying to slide the puck through.
Brandon Hagel took a penalty on the ensuing rush up the ice that led to a short-handed opportunity for Luke Glendening, a name we’ve not mentioned in a long time, a long time. His chance found iron and the score remained 1-0. The Flyers would push a puck across the line soon after, but the whistle had blown as Vasilevskiy covered the puck long enough in the opinion of the only person that mattered, the referee.
Through the first ten minutes of the period the Lightning offense was less than efficient as they failed to register a shot on goal (Gourde’s power play attempt was deemed to have hit the side of the net) so they went to the area of their game that had been most effective in the first half of the period – their penalty kill.
A wayward stick from Emil Lilleberg earned him a four-minute timeout in the penalty box and the Bolts went to work killing off the penalty. Zemgus Girgensons had an excellent effort that forced Fedotov to shoulder away a shot, and then Victor Hedman gunned a shot just wide of the net as he crept through the slot.
The power play for the Flyers was not very effective and the Lightning found their footing a bit as the period wound down, but not before an elongated final 0.9 seconds as the officials debated whether there was time on the clock on a late icing by the Flyers. The Lightning won the face-off, but Hedman’s shot was thwarted by a sea of Flyers’ bodies.
The extraordinary vision of Nikita Kucherov is a double-edged sword. Sometimes he sees things his linemates don’t and it leads to a turnover and a potential breakaways as Bobby Brink was almost in alone after a turnover. Other times, as it did seconds later on the same shift, that vision provides a golden opportunity. In this case, a long pass from his own zone sent Hagel in alone on the net. Unfortunately, Fedotov wasn’t willing to let the play crowd enjoy the play to their fullest as his glove snatched Hagel’s attempt out of the air.
A long stretch of play commenced where there was a lot of action from zone to zone, but no shots on net from either team. There were also no whistles from the officials so the furious play of nothingness went by quickly. As Fedotov went to the bench with just under two minutes to play, Sean Couturier drew Erik Cernak’s blood with a high-stick to put the Lightning on a four-minute power play.
John Tortorella chose to pull Fedotov again despite being short-handed, and Jake Guentzel was able to make him pay with the rare empty-net, power play goal. Still on the power play, the Lightning had a few more looks, including a three-on-one where Kucherov tried to force a pass to Point to help him break his scoring slump, but to no avail. Still, the Lightning finished it off to help Vasilevskiy claim his fifth shutout of the season.
The Goals
Nikita Kucherov (unassisted) 1-0 LIghtning
Jake Guentzel (Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point) Power-play, empty-net, 2-0 Lightning
The Charts
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Tampa Bay Lightning on 2025-03-17 #GoBolts
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) March 17, 2025 at 9:44 PM
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