In Tampa, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in his first shutout of the season, 4-0, over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, on Tuesday night.
Zach Bogosian scored for Tampa in the first period, for all the offense the Bolts would need.
“Skating is his asset, and when he’s using his legs he can be effective,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Plus, he’s got that big shot that he doesn’t get off nearly enough. When he’s shooting like that … I wouldn’t want to stand in front of those.”
Tampa improved to 11-4-3.
“Goalies are so hard to read when they’re young kids and you don’t know how they’re going to develop,” Cooper said. “Not only does he look after himself, his body, he knows exactly what he needs to do. But the mental side of things for him, that’s what’s come so far. There’s nobody you’d rather have back there than him. He’s exceptional.”
Steve Stamkos hit for a goal in the middle frame to double the lead to 2-0.
Corey Perry scored his first marker with the Lightning at 16:17 of the second period.
“It was a tough start,” Perry said. “Things were going in during preseason, but that doesn’t matter. It’s all about what you do in the regular season and continue to do down the road.”
Philadelphia dropped to 8-6-3l they are 1-3-1 in their last five and the offense has gone AWOL.
“I thought our first period was competitive,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “Unfortunately, they sneaked one through there right off the hop. Our guys battled hard, but in the second their power play definitely gave them momentum.
“For the last 30 minutes of the game we weren’t very good. Our passing game was off, it created numerous Grade-A opportunities for them. They were the better team.”
Tampa’s Alex Barre-Boulet, who is icing in place of injured Brayden Point, scored at 7:26 of the third period for the 4-0 final.
“We’ve dealt with this kind of stuff before,” Stamkos said. “Our depth has always been key to our success. A lot of people have been talking about the guys that left, but we’ve got some really good players that came in, including the young guys who have stepped up.”
Carter Hart made 31 saves in the Flyers.
“Their team did a good job of keeping us to the outside and not giving us any second looks,” Hart said. “They were solid in their d-zone, and when pucks got through, Vasilevskiy saw them.”
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