After allowing 19 goals in their past four games (three losses), the Lightning posted a shutout against a Washington team that entered the contest ranked fourth in offense. Andrei Vasilevskiy played a big role in the victory and shutout, making 31 saves. Credit the Lightning for defending hard without the puck throughout the night as well. They received goals from three different lines, including Conor Geekie’s first NHL goal.
One of the reasons why the Lightning were outshot for the first time this year was that they weren’t crisp with their puck play. As a result, they ceded the majority of the possession time to Washington. The Caps did well to pressure the Lightning in the Tampa Bay defensive zone and force turnovers. That possession advantage for Washington is reflected in the final shot attempts: 66-52. But the Lightning protected the middle of the ice well during many of those shifts, so the Caps weren’t able to translate their possession edge into a high volume of scoring chances.
Still, they generated some. And when they did, Vasilevskiy kept the puck out. He made a first-period breakaway save on Aliaksei Protas. He stopped three consecutive point-blank Pierre-Luc Dubois shots in the second, a frame in which he made 16 overall saves.
The Lightning netted the game’s first goal when Mitchell Chaffee deflected Nick Paul’s shot into the top of the net at 5:27 of the second. Brayden Point finished a centering feed from Nikita Kucherov at 2:26 of the third. Less than a minute later, Anthony Cirelli set up Geekie for a left-circle one-timer that beat Charlie Lindgren on the stick side. All three goals came after the Lightning won puck battles in the offensive zone to maintain control of the puck.
This was an important win on the heels of Thursday’s home loss to Minnesota. Next up is Monday’s game against Nashville and the Amalie Arena return of Steven Stamkos.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 31-save shutout.
- J.J. Moser — Lightning.
- Nick Perbix — Lightning.
