Vasilevskiy makes 43 saves, Lightning top Avalanche in shootout

DENVER -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 43 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-3 shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for Tampa Bay (35-16-2), which has won three straight, including 5-0 against Colorado last Thursday in the first game between the teams since the Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup Final in six games. The Lightning visit the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
Steven Stamkos scored in the shootout, and Vasilevskiy made saves against Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen after Evan Rodrigues missed the net.
"There's no revenge wins. It's a new season," said Stamkos, who is Tampa Bay's captain. "We know the quality of team that they are. It's a different year. That's how we've always built on the previous year, and we know the success that we've had, we know the success they've had. But different players, different circumstances, so there's no extra motivation because of what happened last year. It's just we want to win hockey games and get as many points as we can."

MacKinnon had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (28-19-5), who have lost three of four (1-1-2) and visit the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday. Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.
"The goals that we gave up weren't necessarily that they were on a big push," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We just made some mistakes and gave up some chances. So, we'll look at it, review it, show it, and learn from it. We forced them into some mistakes too and had some really good chances.
"Tonight, we did a better job of scoring on some of our chances, and I think it was a more complete game tonight."
Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the first period when his wrist shot from the left face-off dot beat Vasilevskiy to the far side.
"You never want that," Stamkos said. "[Vasilevskiy] gives us a chance to win every night. The first two periods, they were better than us, and he kept us in it. The third period, I thought we were the better team, and we're able to get a point and then anything can happen in OT and in the shootout."

MacKinnon made it 2-0 when Bowen Byram found him skating into the blue paint and fed him a tap-in at 6:21 of the second period.
Kucherov cut it to 2-1 when he finished a 2-on-1 with Brayden Point at 13:09.
Cirelli tied it 2-2 just 26 seconds into the third period with a shot from the left circle that found its way past Georgiev.
"I thought we had some opportunities at 2-0 to stretch the lead out to three," Bednar said. "We didn't capitalize on them; Vasilevskiy makes some saves. Overall, [it was a] hard-fought hockey game."

Malgin put the Avalanche back in front 3-2 at 2:03 with a wrist shot from between the circles, but Namestnikov tied it 3-3 at 4:10 when he won a puck battle against Kurtis MacDermid, deked his way toward the net and beat Georgiev on a backhand.
"We had a little stern talk with the boys after the second," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We felt the game was obviously winnable. It was within reach, but the scoring chances we'd given up in the first two periods, it was just not acceptable against a team like them. We hung in there and [were] fortunate to get two points."

NOTES: Bednar said defenseman Erik Johnson will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. He left Saturday's 5-3 win at the Florida Panthers after blocking a shot. … Kucherov extended his point streak to 11 games (four goals, 12 assists). … Victor Hedman had five shots on goal and became the first defenseman to have 2,000 shots in Lightning history. … Tampa Bay forward Nicholas Paul won seven of nine face-offs in 15:31 of ice time after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. … MacKinnon reached 60 points for the seventh time, which trails only Joe Sakic (17 times), Peter Stastny (10), Michel Goulet (nine) and Anton Stastny (eight) for the most in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise history. … Malgin's goal was his first with Colorado after being acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 19.