Saturday, February 16, 2019 07:00 PM (ET)

Vasilevskiy sets Lightning shutout mark in blanking Habs

Field Level Media
Feb 16, 2019

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy broke the franchise record for career shutouts as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 3-0 Saturday night.

Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning, who extended their winning streak to five games. Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 25-9 during the streak.

Tampa Bay, which has a league-leading 92 points, extended its point streak to nine games (7-0-2).

Vasilevskiy stopped all 20 shots he faced for his sixth shutout of the season and the 18th of his career, surpassing Ben Bishop for the franchise record. Vasilevskiy has five shutouts in his past 14 starts, including his past two.

Montreal goaltender Carey Price stopped 34 of 37 shots. The Canadiens were 8-2-2 in their previous 12 games.

Kucherov, the league's leading scorer with 94 points, scored for the fourth straight game, a power-play goal at 2:16 of the third period. He has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) during the streak.

Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat took a pass near the top of the faceoff circle before seemingly losing control of the puck. Steven Stamkos jumped on it and fed Kucherov, whose one-timer from the right faceoff dot beat Price for the game's first goal.

The Lightning struck again 1:25 later as Kucherov forced a turnover at center ice, with Brayden Point picking up the puck and feeding Gourde for a breakaway. Gourde beat Price with a wrist shot into the upper left corner of the net.

Johnson scored an insurance goal at 16:46 of the third, assisted by Stamkos and Palat.

Vasilevskiy made his most important saves in the final 30 seconds of the second period to keep it scoreless.

First, he thwarted a breakaway by Jonathan Drouin, and then he stopped two rebound attempts by Brendan Gallagher.

Price also made an outstanding stop on a breakaway, getting a blocker on a shot by J.T. Miller with 12 minutes remaining in the first period.

--Field Level Media

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