In Tampa, The Lightning scored three times in the first period to take a 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Ross Colton extended the lead to 4-1 in the latter minutes of the middle frame, and the Lightning went on to a 5-2 win.
It was the 12th straight home win for the Bolts.
“It was three tough teams to play in this league — big, strong, fast playoff teams, and our guys handled it well,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “If there was a little bit of worry it was after a big win against the Bruins, and our impending break, how would we handle this game and would we look past it. They didn’t and they got the points we needed.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in the Lightning win.
Tampa improved to 32-15-1.
The Lightning took a 2-0 lead in the first period on markers from Brayden Point and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
“At times it’s a challenge for [the fourth line] to try to create some offense,” Bellemare said. “But it’s not just about the goals. To be able to play at the end of the game and have the coaches trust us to do the right thing, that’s something you want to be able to bring. Sometimes you get rewarded for doing the right things.”
Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored to get the Kings back to within one at 2-1.
“That was the moment where we thought, ‘Hey we’re back in this’,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “Because [Vasilevskiy] normally doesn’t give those up. But if you don’t shoot it, you have no chance to score anyway. Jaret has been shooting the puck.”
The Kings dropped to 28-18-6.
“We made three or four mistakes [in the first period] and they ended up in our net,” McLellan said. “That happens often in a game, it’s just that these guys capitalized on it.”
Corey Perry also hit for a goal in the first, his marker moved the lead back to two goals, 3-1.
“The leaders were pretty vocal about us coming to work and handling our business,” Colton said. “We got really hyped up for the Boston game and getting those two points was huge. Then I think we just rode the momentum into tonight.”
Phillip Danault scored for the Kings to make the score 4-2.
“We gave up a lot of chances,” Kings forward Alex Iafallo said. “We felt like we had to take away chances in the middle and we didn’t. When you don’t communicate it leads to individual [errors]. As a whole we just didn’t get it done defensively.”
Victor Hedman added a late third period goal for the 5-2 final.
Jonathan Quick made 20 saves in the LA loss.
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