With the Holiday Break right around the corner, the Tampa Bay Lightning headed to Washington, D.C. for a quick, one-game road triop and a battle against the Washington Capitals.
The Bolts and Caps played a tight-checking game for the entirety of the 60 minutes before the Lightning eventually skated away with a 2-1 shootout win. Saturday marked the first time this season that Tampa Bay has gone to the shootout.
Going against one of the top defensive teams in the NHL, the Lightning opened the scoring 7:29 into the first period with Luke Glendening netting his fifth goal of the season. Providing plenty of traffic in front of the net along with Conor Sheary, Glendening was able to redirect a shot from Victor Hedman past Charlie Lindgren to send the Bolts to the locker room for the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
Anthony Mantha evened the scoring on a similar play 2:01 into the second period when a shot from Nick Jensen deflected off Mantha and past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it a 1-1 game with the lone goal of the second period.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in a very tight third period that saw the two teams combine for just seven shots on goal. Following a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime, the teams went to a shootout.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in the first round on his patented, slow-moving shootout technique before Brayden Point evened the score with a fast-paced dart down the middle of the ice followed by a shot past Lindgren.
Washington was unable to score for the remainder of the shootout, allowing Victor Hedman to fire a shot off the post and past Lindgren in the fourth round to win the game for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning enter the Holiday Break on a three-game winning streak and will be back in action on December 27 at home against the Florida Panthers.
Bolts by the Numbers
- Victor Hedman recorded his 28th assist and 33rd point of the season on Luke Glendening’s goal.
- Hedman scored the 10th shootout goal of his career and his fifth game-deciding goal, tying Martin St. Louis (5) for the fourth-most game-deciding goals in franchise history behind Steven Stamkos (11), Brad Richards (7) and Brayden Point (7).
- Hedman extended his point streak to four games (0-6—6) and has tallied 16 points over his last 16 games (2-14—16).
- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves to win his third consecutive start and improve to 8-5-0 this season and 7-2-0 over his last nine games.
Bolts Quotes
- Jon Cooper on Andrei Vasilevskiy: “He was really good again. You’ve got to support your goalie and, when we did break down there, Vas, he stood tall for us. We’re going to need him, obviously, for the rest of the year, but it’s nice to see him getting into a little of a rhythm right now.”
- Victor Hedman on the win streak: “The last three games, I think we’ve been able to turn it on and focus more on simplifying the game and not making it hard on ourselves. When we do that, we’re a good team. Everyone understands their role and when to make plays and when not to, so when we do that, we’re a tough team to play against.”
- Anthony Cirelli on the win: “It’s only going to get harder down the stretch here as the season goes on as it tightens up on the D side of the puck. You want to win every game 10-0, but that’s not the reality, so it’s nice to be on top of a tight-knit game like that down the stretch. In that third period, time winds down and if any mistake goes in the net at that time, it’s likely game over.”
Krenner’s Three Stars
- Andrei Vasilevskiy
- Victor Hedman
- Charlie Lindgren
Lightning Look Ahead
- Wednesday, December 27 vs. Florida Panthers, 7 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
- Saturday, December 30 vs. New York Rangers, 7 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
- Sunday, December 31 vs. Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET, AMALIE Arena - Buy Tickets
