In Tampa, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves and won his 10th straight game for the Lightning, this time, 4-2 over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.
“I’ve got some confidence going now, and our team is playing extremely well,” Vasilevskiy said. “I didn’t think I played my best games the last 2-3 times, but in the end we’ve gotten the W. Sometimes the guys are helping me, sometimes I am helping our guys.”
Mattias Janmark gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Dylan Strome picked up a goal for Chicago on his return to the lineup after missing 11 games for a concussion protocol. His goal goal tied the game 2-2.
“It was nice to get back out there with the guys, I’m feeling a lot better,” Strome said. “We did a lot of skating while I was out, got back to skating, so the legs felt good tonight, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the win.”
Ross Colton scored in the third period to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead.
“He (Colton) is playing phenomenal,” Tampa Bay’s Yanni Gourde said. “He’s works really hard. He makes the simple plays, he finishes his hits, wins draws … he does it all. It’s very fun to watch.”
Alex Killorn and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Bolts.
“All four lines played good tonight,” Gourde said. “When we’re making the simple plays — chipping the puck in and working down low — you just have to play smart, and we did that in the third period after we got the lead.”
Tampa Bay improved to 21-6-2.
“[Our line] tries to play a gritty type of game,” Colton said. “[Pat Maroon] is so effective below the circles, and [Joseph] has unbelievable speed. I think I am pretty effective down low as well. We’re going to get offensive-zone time with Joseph’s speed. It’s not always about scoring, it’s about creating momentum for the other lines.”
Victor Hedman iced the game when he scored in an empty net late in the final frame.
“I thought we played really well,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “Disappointed in the result. There’s always little things that we’d like to improve. Throughout the game, I think there were a few more plays out there where if we execute better we can create more in transition. In the third, we passed up the opportunity to shoot, to give yourself a chance to get a bounce, create some havoc.”
Kevin Lankinen made 19 saves in the loss.
“They’re a deep lineup, and that’s the thing you realize against them is, as soon as you give them a sniff or a chance at a play, a lot of times they’ll take advantage of it,” Chicago’s Connor Murphy said. “it seems like they did that.”
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