3
0
Lightning close out third segment of the season well.
STL-1
TB-3
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed one goal on 32 shots for the victory. Made it all look easy.
First Period
5:14 TB Cirelli (13), (Geekie, Hagel)
Second Period
3:42 TB Perbix (4), (Kucherov, Point)
12:15 STL Buchnevich (9), (Thomas, Fowler)
13:33 TB Goncalves (1), (Kucherov)
Third Period
NO SCORING
Vasilvesky, Gage Goncalves, and Nikita Kucherov were the game’s third stars.
Not even close to the Lightning’s best effort, especially for most of the Second Period, but they still handled St. Louis quite comfortably. The team keeps rolling, although the announcement Moser will miss the next 8-10 weeks looms large given right side D remains a thin point for the Lightning roster. They’ve weathered all the adversity well so far, though, and with 38 points through 30 games they have banked two insurance points heading into segment four for playoff pacing.
Conor Geekie had a helper and was +1 with 1 hit and 1 blocked shot in 14:16. Influential on the Cirelli and Hagel line in the First Period, but a non-factor the rest of the way.
Mitchell Chaffee had 3 hits in 11:27.
Emil Lilleberg had 5 penalty minutes, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 18:12. Answered the bell fighting Brayden Schenn and handled his business reasonably well.
Goncalves had his first NHL goal and was +1 with 1 shot in 9:42. I thought Binnington was wildly off his angle on the shot and he was pulled after allowing it. Justice, though, considering Gage has been robbed on a spate of better chances to this point of the season. These things even out eventually, and they started to tonight.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
