1
0
Tampa Bay stays sizzling as a berth in the postseason seems in sight.
NYI-1
TB-4
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed one goal (off Matt Dumba’s backside) on 28 shots for the victory. Didn’t have a lot of work the first 20 minutes, but had to make a bagful of timely saves the rest of the way.
First Period
2:25 NYI Palmieri (24), (Pulock, Reilly)
14:25 TB Raddysh (6), (Kucherov, Cirelli)(PP)
15:00 TB Cirelli (17), (Perbix, Hagel)
Second Period
NO SCORING
Third Period
0:21 TB Stamkos (30), (Lilleberg, Hagel)
17:14 TB Cirelli (18), (Kucherov, Hedman)(EN)
Vasilevskiy, Anthony Cirelli, and Nikita Kucherov were the game’s three stars.
Lightning hockey is fun again. Andrei Vasilevskiy is rounding into form and somehow, against all odds, Anthony Cirelli is flirting with setting new career highs in goals and points. Both were prerequisites for any kind of decent postseason run, and their improved play has been symptomatic of the overall breath of fresh air that’s moved through the team.
At the start of every season, your goal is to try to get 12 points every 10 games or 96 points after 80 games to comfortably get you in the postseason. Tampa Bay sits on 89 points through 73 games, meaning if they go .500 the balance of this segment they hit their benchmark. It hasn’t been pretty, but it’s coming together at the end.
Mitchell Chaffee had 1 shot, 4 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 12:37.
Emil Lilleberg had a helper and was +2 with 2 penalty minutes, 1 hit, and 2 blocked shots in 20:07. What a tip by Stamkos on the goal that got Lilleberg the assist.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
