Vasilevskiy makes 36 saves, Lightning defeat Kraken

TAMPA -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning (32-20-4), who have won five straight and are 6-0-1 in their past seven games.

It was the first game for the Lightning since the 4 Nations Face-Off. Tampa Bay had five players in the tournament, including Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point, who helped Canada defeat the United States in the championship game on Thursday.

"We had a tremendous experience over there. Coming back here it's nice to see the guys again,' Hagel said. "That's another emotion in itself, just being out there with your teammates, the guys you go to war with, guys that you're going for another goal with."

Jon Cooper, who was the coach of Canada, said the past two weeks have brought out a lot of emotions.

"When you're going to coach for your country and you have players on your team playing for your country, you're pulling for them to do well," Cooper said. "I think it was pretty clear, and I will include (Jake) Guentzel and Victor (Hedman), but especially the three guys that played for Canada did more than hold their own."

Shane Wright scored for the Kraken (25-30-4), who were coming off a 2-1 win at the Florida Panthers on Saturday. Ales Stezka made 19 saves in his NHL debut.

"'Stez' had a very good game. ... He had several good saves in the match, his glove was good, looked comfortable in there, and gave us every chance to win the game," Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. "This game felt like more of a closer game than the 4-1 final it ends up being. They get a couple of plays and their players are dangerous. That was the difference."

Hagel gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 9:27 of the second period. Ryan McDonagh lifted the puck out from below the goal line into the neutral zone, where Hagel skated into it. He then fought off Oliver Bjorkstrand before beating Stezka five-hole with a backhand from the edge of the right circle.

"He's making a hockey read (on the pass) and the rest was all him," McDonagh said of Hagel. "It seems like every year he's getting more confident out there. The best thing about it is that he wants those situations. He's counted on in a lot of situations, penalty kill, power play, 5-on-5, and he wants to step up."

Kucherov made it 2-0 at 11:15 of the third period with a one-timer short side on Stezka directly off a face-off win by Point in the left circle.

Luke Glendening extended the lead to 3-0 at 12:58, chipping a centering pass from Cam Atkinson over Stezka's glove.

Wright cut it to 3-1 at 15:24 with a redirection of Brandon Montour's shot from above the circles, but Nick Paul scored into an empty net at 18:14 for the 4-1 final.

"Obviously, the power play gets an opportunity and they score a short-handed goal," Bylsma said. "I still thought we had enough to think we were going to come back and get a chance and get goals. Vasilevskiy played really well and turned away a lot of the good chances we had, but I think we had to be a little more determined on getting on the inside and getting a dirty one if we were going to get one by him."

NOTES: Point has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. ... Hagel has 10 points (five goals, five assists) and is plus-12 during a five-game point streak. ... Wright has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games. ... Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser was minus-1 in 22:08 of ice time in his return after missing 28 games with a lower-body injury.