Vasilevskiy makes 29 saves, Lightning shut out Devils

TAMPA -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

The shutout was Vasilevskiy’s second of the season and 36th in the NHL.

Vasilevskiy was honored for earning his 300th win on Thursday during a pre-game ceremony that featured congratulations from Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur and former Lightning goalies Nikolai Khabibulin and Ben Bishop.

"It's a huge honor," Vasilevskiy said. "Honored to have such a great ceremony. I thought the guys played well. Obviously, the team gave me a couple of gifts before the game, the most important gift was that they played great in front of me...too many gifts tonight."

Victor Hedman and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist, and Nick Paul also scored for the Lightning (9-6-1), who have won two in a row following a four-game skid. Nikita Kucherov had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, nine assists).

"We're defending the way you should defend...with numbers," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "When you're able to defend as a group of five, not putting stress on yourself, we've done a really good job of protecting the net. But it all stems from just not giving up the freebies...when you're not giving up the odd-man rushes and, like I said, defending as a group with a plan, these are the kind of things that happen."

Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for the Devils (12-7-2), who had won five of six (5-1-0).

"I thought we played a good game, I thought we played a smart game," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We were right there. I just think they were a little bit better in a lot of small details of the game and when you add them up it's enough for them to get one, then two, then three, and just kind of pull away from us. I wouldn't change a lot about our game, just little things here and there that they were better than us."

Paul gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 14:27 of the first period when he scored on a shot above the right circle with Gage Goncalves providing a screen in front of the net.

Darren Raddysh scored his first goal of the season 39 seconds into the third period to make it 2-0, a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Kucherov after Cirelli won a draw in the zone.

"Both teams limited each other's chances, we both played well defensively," Devils forward Jesper Bratt said. "I think it was the small details...they found a way to score and got in front of [Markstrom's] eyes. That's how they scored their goals and that's how we didn't score."

Hedman’s power-play goal extended it to 3-0 at 7:40, a slap shot from the point.

"[The power play] has been a work in progress," Hedman said. "Trying to find what works. Just throw different things at the opponent, but we have so many good players, it's about making those right reads, and we did that today."

Cirelli was awarded an empty-net goal at 19:48 for the 4-0 final when New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes threw his stick out in front of him on a breakaway.

"I think they played a solid game defensively, like ourselves too," Markstrom said. "I think it was a really tight game, it would have been nice to make another save or two to make it a tighter game in the third."

NOTES: Vasilevskiy’s 36 shutouts since his debut season in 2014-15 are tied for the third most among all goaltenders behind Marc-Andre Fleury (47) and Connor Hellebuyck (40). … Kucherov is one point shy of 900 in the NHL (331 goals, 568 assists in 741 games). Steven Stamkos (555-582 -- 1137) and Martin St. Louis (365-588 -- 953) are the only players in Lightning history to reach the mark.