Vasilevskiy makes 28 saves, Lightning shut out Flames for 7th straight win

TAMPA -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-0 win over the Calgary Flames at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Vasilevskiy has won seven straight and is 9-2-1 in his past 12 starts. He has a .944 save percentage over the past seven games.

Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (34-20-4), who have won seven straight. Nikita Kucherov scored and Victor Hedman had two assists.

"We probably weren't as good as we were against Edmonton," Hedman said. "'Vasy' made some big saves for us. He is one of the best to ever do it. We see him day in and day out, the way he prepares, the way he practices... great guy, great goaltender."

Dustin Wolf made 20 saves for the Flames (28-22-8), who had won their previous two games.

"Honestly, I thought we played a great game. We got a tough bounce on the kill in the first, gives them a little life, one or two breakdowns, they make us pay," Calgary forward Blake Coleman said. "We just weren’t able to bear down on the looks that we had. I thought as far as the team game went, I thought it was actually a really solid effort."

Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 19:15 in the first period. With the Lightning on the power play, Kucherov was controlling the puck at the half wall and placed a centering pass intended for Jake Guentzel, but it deflected off of MacKenzie Weegar's skate and got past Wolf.

"Tough bounce on that PK, you hate to use that one as an excuse," Weegar said. "But we’ve got to find ways to score goals, especially on this road trip. I thought the response throughout the game was great. We need a big response against Florida."

Erik Cernak made it 2-0 at 3:51 of the third period with a snap shot from the high slot off a pass from Hagel after Anthony Cirelli forced a turnover to keep the puck in the zone.

"Amazing play by 'Hags,' he got the puck off the boards and found me in the middle of the ice," Cernak said. "It was pretty easy for me to score and I'm glad it went in. I saw he was moving to my right, so the left side was open."

Hagel added an empty-net goal at 17:10 for the 3-0 final. He has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) during a seven-game point streak.

"I think we were a game below .500 in January and I really liked the way we were playing," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We were defending, we were playing well, we just couldn't put the puck in the net. But I thought if we just kept that up it had to break at some point and in February it has. The pucks are going in for us and we're still defending hence we've strung a few wins together."

Said Flames coach Ryan Huska: "When you don’t score goals, someone’s got to step up and generate. [Forward Jonathan Huberdeau] might have had five shots on goal, I think 'Naz' had four. I think we finished with 27. Other guys have to get themselves involved offensively, ‘cause you can’t ask them to do it every night. So we need to find a way to get some other guys with a little more jump that way."

NOTES: Coleman played in his 600th NHL game. He had four shot attempts (one on goal) and three blocked shots in 17:12. Coleman won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021. ... Kucherov has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) during a nine-game point streak. ...Vasilevskiy posted his 38th career shutout. ... Huberdeau had five shots on goal, but could not extend his six-game point streak.