Throughout the night, the Lightning limited dangerous scoring chances. In fact, neither of the two LA goals came off a scoring chance. Jaret Anderson-Dolan converted on a left-circle shot that Andrei Vasilevskiy typically stops and Phillip Danault scored when his centering pass from the right circle deflected off Ian Cole's stick and into the Lightning net.
Vasilevskiy did stop all of the actual scoring chances the Kings generated. There weren't many. But Vasilevskiy provided his club with a handful of timely saves, including a stop on Alex Iafallo's point blank look late in the second period when the score was 3-1. Moments later, Ross Colton scored to extend the Lightning advantage to 4-1.
Colton's goal was one of three that the Lightning received from either the Nick Paul line or the Pierre-Edouard Bellemare unit. Bellemare and Corey Perry also tallied. The depth scoring was an important component to the win.
As was the Lightning's ability to dominate possession during the first two periods. They came out of the gates especially well, converting twice in the opening 6:21. Both goals came moments after the Kings turned the puck over in the defensive zone. Then, after Anderson-Dolan scored at 10:13, the Lightning responded with Perry's goal at 15:57. That put them back up by two - and the Kings would not get any closer for the rest of the night.
The Lightning could have scored more than one goal in the second period, but they narrowly missed finishing on several looks (the Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, and Nikita Kucherov unit was particularly dangerous). Jonathan Quick also turned aside 16 of 17 shots. But the Colton goal offset Danault's tally in the final minute of the frame, so the Lightning maintained a two-goal lead after two periods.
The Kings pressed the attack more regularly in the third period. They posted 11 shots. But Vasilevskiy stopped them all. The Lightning only managed one shot on goal - that one shot from Victor Hedman went in the net - but they managed the final period well. They didn't allow Los Angeles to build any momentum. Or climb back into the game.
The Lightning now begin their bye week, which leads into the All-Star Break. They'll resume play a week from Monday when they visit the Panthers in Sunrise.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Braydon Coburn):
1. Nick Perbix - Lightning. Career-high three assists.
2. Brayden Point - Lightning. Goal and assist.
3. Victor Hedman - Lightning. Goal.
