Bolts blank Sharks in road trip's finale

Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves and Steven Stamkos recorded two points as the Lightning wrapped up the road trip with a 3-0 win over the Sharks in San Jose on Saturday night.

Stamkos finally opened the scoring with a goal four minutes into the second period. He was left wide open at the left circle and Kevin Shattenkirk set up the one-timer with a cross-ice feed from the far boards.
It stayed a one-goal game for most of the night until Nikita Kucherov scored on a backhander with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Kucherov weaved through Evander Kane and Brent Burns before beating Aaron Dell with a backhand shot to the glove side.
Ondrej Palat added an empty net goal with 17 seconds to play to put the Bolts up 3-0.

McElhinney had to be sharp over the final 40 minutes with San Jose firing 28 shots his way over the last two periods. McElhinney's best stop of the night came five minutes into the third period when he extended his left leg to deny Timo Meier on a partial breakaway with the Bolts only up by one. He also came up big with the Lightning on the penalty kill, helping successfully kill off all three Sharks power play opportunities.
The win improves Tampa Bay to 3-0-1 in the four games since the All-Star break and marks their third-consecutive victory.
The Lightning will now return to Amalie Arena on Tuesday to open a three-game homestand against the Golden Knights.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
TBL | 4:04 Steven Stamkos (23) - Kevin Shattenkirk, Mikhail Sergachev
3rd Period
TBL | 17:57 Nikita Kucherov (24) - Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point
TBL | 19:43 Ondrej Palat (14) - Anthony Cirelli - EN