Lightning score 3 in 3rd, end Kraken's 8-game winning streak

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Kraken's eight-game winning streak ended when Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-1 victory at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (28-13-1), who won their fourth straight.
"Theyre a good hockey team and are going to get some chances, but I thought we limited them pretty well," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "They pushed, as to be expected, but we weathered it and [Nicholas Paul's] goal was a big one for us. It was a tight-checking game, special teams wasn't a big factor. It was just two pretty good teams going at it."
Vince Dunn scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves for the Kraken (26-13-4). The winning streak was the longest in their two NHL seasons.
"I think we could have been a lot better with our execution right out of our zone," Dunn said. "I think we had our chances and our looks. I definitely think we turned down a couple of shots, but for the most part our execution needs to be better."
Tampa Bay outshot Seattle 31-23 and killed three Kraken power plays.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 18:42 of the first period when he redirected a point shot from Ian Cole. It was his first goal since Dec.15 when he scored against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"I thought we came out flying." Tampa Bay forward Ross Colton said. "We knew they were on a big winning streak. We wanted to set the tone, and I think we did a good job of doing that. Second period wasn't great, we kind of took our foot off the gas, thought it was going to be easy like the first. Obviously a good team over there and they took it to us, but credit to the leaders and the coaches."
Paul made it 2-0 at 6:44 of the third period after stealing the puck from Dunn at the side of the net, turning and firing the puck in from the bottom of the right face-off circle.
Dunn cut it to 2-1 at 10:44 when his slap shot from the blue line ricocheted in off Cole's shin guard. The defenseman has a seven-game point streak (four goals, seven assists).
"They're tough team to get inside on, they box you out early," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "You've got to find a way to get inside and win that race inside early and then shoot pucks inside, and you know, we weren't able to do that."

Hagel scored an empty-net goal at 18:21 to make it 3-1. Victor Hedman scored another empty-net goal at 19:16 for the 4-1 final, after being unable to get the puck to Steven Stamkos, who was with him on the rush looking for his 500th NHL goal.
"It's all about managing the game and we don't need another [goal]," Cooper said. "We just needed to prevent them from getting one. It's not like we sat back, we were feeling pretty good about our offensive game, at least the possession part of it."
NOTES:Vasilevskiy is 4-0-0 against the Kraken, allowing four goals. He reached 20 wins for the seventh straight season (20-10-1), becoming the fourth active goalie to do so (Marc-Andre Fleury, Minnesota Wild; Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes; Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets). … Stamkos did not score his 500th goal but did have an assist, putting him one point shy of his 11th 50-point season, which will tie Martin St. Louis for the most in Lightning history. … Dunn's seven-game point streak is the longest in his NHL career and ties Adam Larsson (2022-23) for the longest by a Seattle defenseman.