In Denver Wednesday night, Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves to shut out the Colorado Avalanche, 1-0.
“He was seeing the puck,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “He was great. He was making plays and coming out of the net and making the plays. He was seeing everything and seeing his rebounds.
“That was a good one. It was just fun to be a part of and have the seat that I have to watch it.”
Nikita Kucherov‘s power play goal early in the third period was the only offense in the game.
“Felt good,” Kucherov said. “[Stamkos] is a skilled player. He’s definitely able to do these plays. When everybody expects him to shoot, it makes it easier for us to get open. All I had to do was get open. I was sure he would make it. He’s a star in this league and it’s just fun to watch.”
A loss is a loss, but the Avs contained the Bolts’ offense except on the late power play.
“It’s a hard-fought game all the way through. We had enough scoring chances to win the hockey game, in my opinion, and they score one on the power play and that’s the game,” Avs’ Gabriel Landeskog said. “I’d expect nothing less from our group than the compete that we showed today. We can compete with the best teams in the League. I think we’ve shown that we belong in the top group this year.”
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Avalanche highlights]
Semyon Varlamov had 23 saves
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had their point streaks snapped in the shutout loss.
“We were battling hard but they played a really good game,” Rantanen said. “Give them credit. There are some things we could have done better, but it’s over.”
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