Lightning defeat Kings, set team record with 12th straight home win

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning set a franchise record with their 12th consecutive home win, 5-2 against the Los Angeles Kings at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Nick Perbix had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning (32-15-1), who have won three in a row, all at home, and played their final game before the NHL All-Star break.
Tampa Bay defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Tuesday and the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Thursday.
"It was three tough teams to play in this league -- big, strong, fast playoff teams, and our guys handled it well," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "If there was a little bit of worry it was after a big win against the Bruins, and our impending break, how would we handle this game and would we look past it. They didn't and they got the points we needed."
Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Phillip Danault scored for the Kings (28-18-6), who had won their previous three, including a 4-3 victory against the Florida Panthers on Friday. Jonathan Quick made 20 saves.
"We made three or four mistakes [in the first period] and they ended up in our net," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "That happens often in a game, it's just that these guys capitalized on it."
Brayden Point gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 5:02 of the first period when he scored in front after Nikita Kucherov fed him from behind the net.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare made it 2-0 at 6:21 from the high slot after Perbix picked off a pass near the right boards.
"At times it's a challenge for [the fourth line] to try to create some offense," Bellemare said. "But it's not just about the goals. To be able to play at the end of the game and have the coaches trust us to do the right thing, that's something you want to be able to bring. Sometimes you get rewarded for doing the right things."

Bellemare said that his mother died this week and that "she would've been proud" of his goal.
"When 'Belly' scored you saw how excited everybody was," Cooper said. "That's what makes the room great. The guys are all pulling for each other. There's life outside of this game we play, and we have a close-knit group that's there for each other."
Anderson-Dolan cut it to 2-1 at 10:12 when his shot from the left face-off circle trickled through Vasilevskiy's pads.
"That was the moment where we thought, 'Hey we're back in this'," McLellan said. "Because [Vasilevskiy] normally doesn't give those up. But if you don't shoot it, you have no chance to score anyway. Jaret has been shooting the puck."
Corey Perry pushed the Lightning lead to 3-1 at 15:57. Perbix's shot from the point deflected off the stick of Los Angeles defenseman Matt Roy, and Perry scored from low in the left circle.
Ross Colton extended it to 4-1 at 15:20 of the second period when he scored over Quick's outstretched right pad from in close.
"The leaders were pretty vocal about us coming to work and handling our business," Colton said. "We got really hyped up for the Boston game and getting those two points was huge. Then I think we just rode the momentum into tonight."

Danault cut it to 4-2 at 19:08 when he threw the puck toward the net and it deflected off the stick of Tampa Bay defenseman Ian Cole.
"We gave up a lot of chances," Kings forward Alex Iafallo said. "We felt like we had to take away chances in the middle and we didn't. When you don't communicate it leads to individual [errors]. As a whole we just didn't get it done defensively."
Victor Hedman scored on a point shot through traffic at 16:03 of the third period for the 5-2 final.
Lightning center Steven Stamkos had an assist on Hedman's goal to extend his point streak to 11 games. He has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) during the streak.
NOTES: Tampa Bay won 11 straight at home from Dec. 23, 2019, to Feb. 15, 2020. … The Lightning next play Feb. 6 at the Panthers. ... The Kings are 0-3-4 in their past seven games at Amalie Arena. ... Tampa Bay forward Nicholas Paul went 13-for-17 on face-offs. ... Perbix has three multipoint games in his past six. … Iafallo had an assist to end a six-game point drought. … The Kings had won the first three of a five-game road trip that will conclude at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.