Vasilevskiy, Lightning shut out Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-0 in a game between conference leaders at Scottrade Center on Tuesday.

Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning (22-6-2), who won their fifth in a row and lead the Eastern Conference.
It was Vasilevskiy's third shutout of the season; he leads the NHL with 20 wins.
WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Blues highlights]
"It's a pretty good feeling especially after last year I played half a game and gave up four goals," Vasilevskiy said of being pulled in the second period of a 5-4 loss at St. Louis on Dec. 1, 2016. "It wasn't my best game. But as I say, the guys played pretty well and we all deserved the shutout.
"They're definitely the best team in the West. It was a tough challenge for us, but the guys played pretty well in front of me. Overall, I thought we played well. I played my game too."

Point gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with 45 seconds left in the first period after a turnover by St. Louis forward Dmitrij Jaskin in the Tampa Bay zone led to an odd-man rush. Point's shot from the slot hit the crossbar, but he followed up his rebound.
Kucherov made it 2-0 when he beat goalie Jake Allen high to the stick side from the high slot at 13:37 of the third period. It was Kucherov's 21st goal, tying Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the NHL lead.
St. Louis (21-9-2), which had won four in a row and leads the Western Conference, played without injured forward Jaden Schwartz and defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. Allen made 22 saves.
It was the third time the Blues were shut out in 17 home games. They said they felt they had some quality scoring opportunities.

"Just look how tight the game was all the way through," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "We definitely had our chances. Great saves by their goalie. I think that they do a great job of protecting their net, helping out with the second opportunities. But I obviously thought we did have our chances. We played well, we had some (offensive) zone time and things like that. I think it was just a good hockey game."
The Blues missed a chance to tie the game when Vladimir Sobotka took a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko and missed an open net at 12:07 of the third. Sobotka shot through the crease with Vasilevskiy out of position.
"I missed the empty net. It is what it is," Sobotka said. "... It happens. I missed the net and it could be 1-1. They score next shift. Just slid off. It just hit the front of the stick, not the back of it. Kind of landed on my stick, but I missed it."
Johnson scored into an empty net with 22 seconds remaining to make it 3-0.

Goal of the game

Kucherov's goal at 13:37 of the third period.

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy's save on Sobotka at 11:02 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Point's goal at 19:15 of the first period.

They said it

"I'll be honest, this is my fifth year with the team and I don't ever remember winning in this building, so it was finally nice to win here. I coached junior here, we had a lot of success in junior, but just haven't had it in the NHL coming to this building, so definitely nice, especially a team that has the most points in the Western Conference. It's a big confidence-builder for us." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Andrei was big for us every night. He's been a guy you can rely on night after night. He's very talented. He can make those big saves for us, and that's how you win games." -- Lightning forward Tyler Johnson on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy
"I just didn't think we made it hard enough on Vasilevskiy. He's the best goalie in the League this year, and it's not even close. We put pucks on net, but pretty easy for him." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen

Need to know

Vasilevskiy is the sixth goaltender in NHL history to reach 20 wins in his first 25 games of a season. He is 6-2-0 with two shutouts and has allowed 14 goals in his past eight starts; he's held opponents to two goals or fewer in six of those starts. ... Blues left wing Alexander Steen played his 595th game with the Blues, tying Jamal Mayers for eighth place in their history among forwards.

What's next

Lightning:At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A, SUN, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, PRIME, NHL.TV)