The Backcheck: Vasilevskiy, Hagel help Bolts get back into win column against Kings

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy nearly completed the goalie trifecta on Thursday night at AMALIE Arena.

Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for his third shutout of the season, propelling the Lightning to a 3-0 victory—their first in three games—over the Los Angeles Kings.

And while he didn’t leave with his first career goal, the Lightning goalie did add some offense. Vasilevskiy claimed the secondary assist on Brandon Hagel’s game-opening goal 4:45 into the first period.

Vasilevskiy’s big night came in his return to the ice after he missed Tuesday’s game and multiple practices due to illness.

“Vasy was Vasy,” Hagel said. “Sick or not, I think he’s still the best in the world.”

Hagel had his own dominant showing, opening the scoring with a highlight reel goal before the game hit its five-minute mark.

Vasilevskiy cleared a puck from behind his net to rookie forward Gage Goncalves on the right side of the defensive zone, who vaulted a backhand pass to Hagel just before center ice.

Hagel tapped the puck through the stick of Kings defenseman Jordan Spence and broke in alone, sifting the opening goal through the leg pads of Los Angeles goalie David Rittich.

“I think all the boys were pretty excited. I think I may have blacked out on that one,” Hagel said of his goal. “That was my first triangle attack of my career, so it worked out well.”

Tampa Bay had numerous chances to build on their lead in the second period with netfront chances, but Rittich kept the game at a 1-0 score.

Nikita Kucherov earned himself a breakaway late in the third period and was met by a flying pokecheck from Rittich. Hagel pressed in to fire home the rebound and make it 2-0 with 4:21 to play.

Rittich finished with 31 saves on 33 Lightning shots. Thursday marked another game in which the Lightning generated plenty of chances, but the opposing goalie continuously made saves.

"It is what it is at this point. It was almost laughable coming into the second period where some of those haven't gone in,” Hagel said. “But listen, I think we just put that aside, continued to play our game. We knew they were going to come, and they ended up coming.”

Hagel cleared the puck while on the penalty kill in the game’s closing minutes, a situation that ended with forward Anthony Cirelli winning the race to the puck and sealing the victory with an empty-net goal and a 3-0 lead with 1:17 remaining. Hagel’s assist gave him three points on the night to lead all players.

In Tampa Bay's crease, Vasilevskiy was solid despite a few days off.

The goalie didn't change his preparation for the game despite missing some time due to illness, and he said postgame that he felt strong in net.

"No time to think too much about if I'm sick or not, so I just went out and played,” he said. “The guys played well defensively. So that's the result.”

Thursday’s effort impressed Lightning coach Jon Cooper, too.

Cooper said despite a recent lull in offense at the end of a January in which the team played 16 games–including 14 games in 24 days– he continues to like the team's play lately.

Being at home for the next three games can’t hurt, either.

"We were probably scoring more than expected, and then we started scoring way below expected. But for the most part, the defensive side of our game is still fairly solid and at some point it just can't keep going on,” Cooper said. “You keep giving yourself chances, eventually they'll go in. They didn't go in a ton tonight, but they went in enough. And hopefully that'll help us being at home here now, and maybe we can rest a little more.”

The Lightning open February with a 7 p.m. game on Saturday against the New York Islanders (23-20-7).

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (28-save shutout, assist)

2. Brandon Hagel, TBL (2 goals, assist)

3. David Rittich, LAK (30 saves)