It was a night of milestones at Amalie Arena. Ryan McDonagh skated in his 1,000th game, Brayden Point netted his 300th career goal, and Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his 40th career shutout.
It was also a night of Lightning goal scoring. They tallied eight goals in a game for the fifth time this season, and they did so against Utah on only 21 shots.
Beyond the milestones and explosive offensive production, however, was this very important aspect of the victory. Unlike in their performance last Saturday in Salt Lake City, the Lightning did a terrific job of protecting the front of their net. They allowed Utah only a few isolated scoring chances over the course of 60 minutes. Along the way, they blocked 23 shots.
Utah entered this game eight points behind St Louis for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It was a crucial game for the visitors — one would have expected Utah to play with high urgency from the get-go. Instead, the Lightning jumped on Utah early. They dominated much of the first period. The Lightning ended Utah plays quickly and exited their own end cleanly. They enjoyed extended offensive-zone shifts. And they got goals from Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman in the opening 4:20.
Utah played better at the start of the second period. The Lightning also struggled with some failed clears from the defensive zone. But the Lightning didn’t allow those miscues to turn into bigger problems. They continued to limit Grade-A chances and contest pucks in dangerous areas. When there was the odd breakdown, Vasilevskiy made a save to keep Utah off the board.
Utah wasn’t able to do the same to the Lightning in the second period. Despite not having as much possession as they did in the opening frame, the Lightning popped in four more goals. Gage Goncalves tipped in an Emil Lilleberg shot at 5:05. Nikita Kucherov finished a rush chance by backhanding the puck past Karel Vejmelka and into the top of the net at 9:14. Guentzel tallied his second goal of the game when he registered his league-leading 15th power-play goal at 17:54. He accepted a Kucherov pass at the side of the net and swept a forehand past Jaxson Stauber, who replaced Vejmelka after the fourth Lightning goal. Then in the period’s final minute, Yanni Gourde set up Oliver Bjorkstrand in the slot, and Bjorkstrand one-timed it into the net.
In the third period, Utah held a shot advantage of 12-4. But there was no sustained push from the visitors. Vasilevskiy stopped all 12 and finished with 25 saves overall. At the other end of the ice, the Lightning tacked on two more goals. Point knocked in a rebound at 8:59 for his milestone tally. Bjorkstrand finished the scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot that sailed into the top of the net at 14:54.
The Lightning wrap up the homestand on Saturday afternoon against the Islanders, who remain very much in contention for one of the available Eastern Conference Wildcard spots.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Goal and three assists.
- Jake Guentzel — Lightning. Two goals.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Ligthning. 25-save shutout.
