Vasilevskiy makes 45 saves, Lightning defeat Rangers in shootout

TAMPA --Andrei Vasilevskiy made 45 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 2-1 shootout win against the New York Rangers at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Brayden Point scored his 20th goal of the season for the Lightning (22-11-1), who won 4-1 here against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
Alex Killorn secured the victory in the sixth round of the shootout.
"That was a good hockey game," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper "You play 82 of them and it's all NHL hockey, but to me, you could have inserted that one for any one of the playoff games last year."
Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves, and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers (19-12-6), who are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games.
"Obviously the goaltending was … two world-class goalies, the two best in the world probably," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "They were outstanding. It was a good hockey game with a lot of chances generated both ways. Tough to lose in a shootout like that, but I thought we played great."

Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 12:45 of the first period with a one-timer from the high slot.
"I thought we did a lot of good things throughout the game," Zibanejad said. "You lose in a shootout, and we're obviously not happy with just one point. We'd rather get the win. But [our] overall play was better. We just have to make sure we come away with two points next time."
Brandon Hagel thought he tied the game for the Lightning at 4:49 of the second period, but video review determined Hagel used his hand to grab and propel the puck over the goal line.
"He came back to the bench like a little kid as if that was going to get by," Cooper said. "But no, in the era of [high-definition] cameras, that's not going to work."
But Point tied it 1-1 at 5:32 of the third period when his shot from the low slot deflected off Shesterkin's blocker.
Lightning forward Steven Stamkos started the game on a line with Anthony Cirelli and Killorn but played with Point and Nikita Kucherov in the third. The three generated the tying goal.
Stamkos hasn't scored in six straight games and remains three goals shy of 500 in his NHL career.
"[They're] two of the best players in the League, so anytime you get a chance you want to make the most of the opportunity," Stamkos said. "It was nice to get that goal."

Vasilevskiy made 10 saves in the third and five in overtime, when the Rangers got a power play after Victor Hedman took a tripping penalty at 2:06. Tampa Bay was down to five healthy defensemen after Erik Cernak left the game in the first following a collision with New York forward Sammy Blais.
"I felt all right until that 4-on-3 in overtime," Vasilevskiy said. "But our defense] core did a tremendous job tonight. We played only five [defensemen
was scratched for the first time this season. He was replaced by Blais, who had one shot on goal and four hits in 10:02 of ice time.