Tuesday, 4 a.m.
When he is at his best, the Tampa Bay Lightning are, too.
Yes, there are stars — Kucherov and Point and Hedman and Hagel and Guentzel and Cirelli. But it is Andrei Vasilevskiy’s team. When he is sharp, this remains a difficult team to beat.
Vasilevskiy pitched his 39th career shutout — his fifth of the season — as the Bolts beat Philadelphia 2-0. It was the 32nd win of Vasilevskiy’s season. He is now 30th all-time in wins with 325. He is tied for 49th all-time in shutouts.
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Against the Flyers, he had 21 saves.
The Bolts are now 31-1-1 this season when leading after two periods.
The Bolts scored their go-ahead goal in the first period when Nikita Kucherov scored his 29th of the season. Kucherov later added an assist on an empty-net goal by Jake Guentzel.
Tampa Bay killed all five power play opportunities of the Flyers, including a four-minute span in the second period.
“I’ll be honest,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “This was not our best night. We turned the puck over way too often. We were fortunate Philly wasn’t taking advantage of it. We have to play much better than that (in the upcoming road trip).”
The Bolts play in Dallas at 8 p.m. on Thursday against the Stars.