1. THE BIGGEST CAT OF THEM ALL
Simply put, the Lightning don't win Tuesday's game without Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes.
The Bolts were not very good defensively to start the game, got better as it progressed and turned in a solid effort in the third period. But, if not for Vasilevskiy's heroics early, the Lightning likely find themselves in too deep of a hole to climb out of.
"I don't think we were sharp early on," Stamkos said. "Vasy was great tonight. I thought we played a pretty good third period. We stuck with it, and Vasy gave us a chance to be in the game, found a way to win."
The odd-man rushes and untimely turnovers the Lightning had worked diligently before the bye week to eliminate returned in abundance against Vegas. Tampa Bay spent much of the first period in their own zone defending. The Lightning didn't create much offensively in the opening period because they didn't have the puck.
The Bolts were outplayed in the opening period, and yet they still entered the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
They largely have Vasilevskiy to thank.
"We turned the puck over way too much in the first period, and that's really when we needed Vasy," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "He was big for us tonight. We kind of regrouped a little bit. I know we didn't generate a ton, but we didn't really give up a ton in the last two periods."
Tyler Johnson, who scored the Lightning's second goal with 2:03 remaining in the first period to give them the lead after 20 minutes, said Vasilevskiy is the "backbone" of the team and makes their life "easier" when he's on top of his game.
"I thought tonight we hung him out to dry a couple of times and the last couple games probably more so than what we'd want, but we have a lot of confidence when he's back there," Johnson said. "We've got to try to shore up our game a little bit and be a little better in front of him."
With the victory tonight over Vegas, Vasilevskiy extended his no regulation loss streak to 16 games, matching Nikolai Khabibulin's franchise record 16-game point run (12-0-4) during the 2002-03 season. Vasilevskiy hasn't been defeated in regulation since a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on December 14, going 14-0-2 since.
"I don't know (Khabibulin) to be honest. I never met him, but, yeah, it's pretty cool, especially it helps our team to be higher in the standings," Vasilevskiy said of matching Khabibulin's franchise mark. "Record, that's good, but better place in the standings, even better."