The story of the night was Nikita Kucherov tying Steven Stamkos for the franchise lead in points. But the story of the game was the play of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who repeatedly denied high-danger scoring chances and held Vegas to just two goals.
Vasilevskiy’s work ensured that the Lightning never trailed in the game. He made two early stops on Vegas rush chances to keep the game scoreless before the Lightning netted the opening goal.
For the second straight game, the Lightning converted on the power play. From the center point, Charle-Edouard D’Astous attempted back-to-back shots. On the first, Brandon Hagel deflected the puck wide of the net. But seconds later, Hagel redirected D’Astous’ wrister past Carter Hart at 4:11.
The Golden Knights tied the game when the puck skipped off D’Astous’ stick in front of the Lightning net. Vasilevskiy stopped Mitch Marner’s in-alone chance. The rebound came to Ivan Barbashev, however, and he slammed it in at 13:16.
The Lightning regained the lead on the next shift. They hemmed the Golden Knights in the defensive zone for nearly a minute before Jeremy Lauzon attempted to pass the puck up the ice to a teammate. Although the pass didn’t connect, the puck left the d-zone. John Carlson, who had recently changed for Emil Lilleberg (and had fresh legs), collected the puck and countered. He fired a left-circle shot that Hart stopped. But the rebound came back to Carlson, who finished from the bottom of the right circle into an open side of the net at 14:04.
The Lightning received their second power play late in the frame with a chance to extend the lead. Instead, they yielded a shorthanded goal. As the puck was cleared down the ice into the Tampa Bay end, the Lightning attempted to change power-play units. But Mark Stone attacked the offensive zone and forced an errant pass from Vasilevskiy up the boards that eluded D’Astous. Braeden Bowman jumped on the puck and centered to Stone, who was alone in front. Stone wired the puck past Vasilevskiy at 18:30.
If not for Vasilevskiy, the Golden Knights would have scored more than two goals in the first. The Lightning struggled with turnovers that fueled the Vegas rush. Fortunately, Vasilevskiy stopped the other looks Vegas generated, so the Lightning got out of the first period in a tie game.
Vasilevskiy dealt with more opposition scoring chances in the second. He turned aside all of them, however, making 15 total saves in the frame. He stopped multiple odd-man rush chances and also made key coverups after initial saves to prevent rebound chances from Vegas players lurking around the crease.
At the other end of the ice, the Lightning tallied three goals on seven second-period shots. The eventual game-winning goal began with Hagel single-handedly preventing the Golden Knights from clearing the puck from the defensive zone. As Hagel battled to maintain possession during a Lightning line change, reinforcements arrived from the bench. Eventually, the Lightning did hold the puck into the offensive zone, and Shea Theodore blocked a Hagel left-circle shot, Kucherov tracked the puck to the left corner. He quickly centered it to Anthony Cirelli at the top of the crease, and Cirelli sticked it past Hart at 6:44.
Just over three minutes later, Cirelli picked off a Jack Eichel pass attempt to Mark Stone, and, from the hashmarks, zipped a shot over Hart’s glove at 10:09.
Finally, with just over two minutes left in the period, the Lightning extended the lead to 5-2. Victor Hedman’s left-point shot eluded Hart on the short side.
The Golden Knights applied pressure in the opening minutes of the third—two of which they spent on their fourth power play of the game. But they couldn’t cut into the deficit. Then, just past the five-minute mark, Kucherov knocked the puck off the stick of Lauzon at the Lightning blue line and countered on a breakaway. With already two assists in the game, he needed just one more point to tie Stamkos for the franchise record. Kucherov snapped the puck over Hart’s stick at 5:16 for his 1,137th point.
That sixth goal took some of the starch out of the Vegas attack, and the rest of the period was drama-free for the Lightning. Vasilevskiy added eight more saves to his total, finishing with 32 on the night.
Unfortunately, the Lightning had to play the third without Cirelli. But even down to 10 forwards, they managed the final period well.
The Lightning have now won three straight. The trip continues on Friday in Colorado.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 32 saves.
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Goal and two assists to tie franchise record for points.
- Anthony Cirelli — Lightning. Two goals.
