Vasilevskiy gets third straight shutout in Lightning win against Stars

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for his third consecutive shutout for the Tampa Bay Lightning, a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Tuesday.

Vasilevskiy is the first Lightning goalie to have three straight shutouts (3-0 vs. Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, 5-0 vs. Stars on Saturday), and the first to shut out the same opponent in the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in three consecutive games. He blanked the Stars in a Cup-clinching Game 6 on Sept. 28.
"Talk about somebody that's in a groove, he is most certainly in one right now," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Just to watch his growth, it's been awesome to see. You've got to take advantage when he's in a groove like this and we are."

Vasilevskiy extended his shutout streak to 200:45, the longest in the NHL this season (Semyon Varlamov, 142:10, Jan. 14-21) and the longest of his NHL career. He had a streak of 184:49 from Dec. 28, 2017 to Jan. 4, 2018.
Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde scored for Tampa Bay (15-4-1), which has won five straight while sweeping the home-and-home series with Dallas.
Anton Khudobin made 17 saves for Dallas (6-7-4), which has lost three straight and is 1-6-3 in the past 10 games. It played at home for the first time since Feb. 13 after four games were postponed because of extreme winter weather.
"Listen, if there's any other goalie in the League other than [Vasilevskiy] in there tonight, we score some goals," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "He was great. That's why he's the best goalie in the League."
Bowness said that the Stars had 17 scoring chances during even-strength play. Jamie Benn failed to capitalize on one at 9:40 of the second period when his shot hit the post.
Stars forward Roope Hintz split two Lightning defenders and had a partial breakaway at 2:53 of the third period but couldn't get his shot past Vasilevskiy.
"We're missing finishing," Bowness said. "We're creating enough chances. We're creating shots and opportunities but we're lacking a little finish right now ... a little puck luck around the net."

Palat gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 7:29 of the first period off a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass by Victor Hedman 10 seconds into a power play.
Palat, who has replaced injured Nikita Kucherov on the first power-play unit, leads the Lightning with an NHL career-high six power-play goals. He scored five in 56 games in 2016-17.
"It's always nice when you score on the first PP," Palat said. "We had a lot of chances on the power play, especially in the second and third period, so we could be better there.
"In the offseason I didn't know I was going to play [in Kucherov's] spot. But I'm working on [the one-timer] in practice and knowing just when to shoot the puck."
Gourde scored into an empty net with five seconds remaining in the third period for the 2-0 final.
Dallas was 0-for-3 on the power play and is 0-for-9 against Tampa Bay this season. The Lightning were 1-for-5.
"We had some great looks tonight. A couple of times we missed the net and a couple of times he makes a good save," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "It's one of those moments where it's not going in right now. We're giving up 1-2 goals ... we've got to win these games."
Tampa Bay is 16-for-16 on the penalty kill in the past four games.
"The more you play with somebody, the more comfortable you are and understand where they are going to be in certain situations," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said of the penalty kill. "While the forwards are important, it's obviously a unit. [The defensemen have] been great, goaltending has been great. You can't have a great kill without all five guys doing their part."
NOTES: Vasilevskiy is 2:01 from John Grahame's Lightning record shutout streak of 202:46 set over four games from Jan. 17-29, 2006. … Vasilevskiy has not allowed a goal in 10 periods, dating to the second period of a 4-2 win against the Hurricanes on Feb. 22. He has had five consecutive shutouts in the NHL, the latest was Jan. 9-11, 2020. ... Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 17-3 during its winning streak.