Lightning at Canadiens
While their stars up front and on the blue line are doing their thing, the Tampa Bay Lightning have ascended to the top NHL with a big boost from Andrei Vasilevskiy in his first full season as a No. 1 goaltender. The 23-year-old Russian tops the league with 26 wins and has posted three of his NHL-leading six shutouts in his last four starts as the Lightning prepare to visit the offensively challenged Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
“The big question was if (Vasilevskiy) was going to be able to handle the starting role, and ever since he took that over at the end of last year he’s done nothing but pass the test,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters after a 2-0 victory at Toronto on Tuesday. “It’s been a pleasure to watch him grow in this league. He makes us a little bit bigger on the bench.” The only goal Vasilevskiy (1.95 goals-against, .937 save percentage) permitted in his last four games was a power-play tally in the 3-1 victory Dec. 28 against Montreal, which has scored four times during a five-game losing streak. The Canadiens dropped a 4-1 decision to San Jose on Tuesday in the opener of a five-game homestand. “It just seems like we’re playing an easy game right now, making it easy on opponents,” Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry told reporters. “I don’t know if it’s just mental lapses from our structure or just wanting to do our own things, but it’s definitely not working.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), RDS, TSN2 (Montreal)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (29-8-2): Top scorers Nikita Kucherov (league-best 56 points, 25 goals) and captain Steven Stamkos (49 points) were limited to three shots in the victory at Toronto while Alex Killorn and Cedric Paquette tallied. Tyler Johnson (12 games) and Kucherov (10 games) saw their point streaks end and defenseman Victor Hedman did not make the scoresheet, but the Norris Trophy candidate owns a plus-17 rating in his last 14 games. It was Paquette’s first goal of the season and Killorn notched his fifth along with his 22nd point.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (16-20-4): Forward Alex Galchenyuk is the only player who has been fairly steady offensively the last month with 11 of his team-leading 22 points in his last 14 contests. Right wing Brendan Gallagher managed only two of his team-high 15 goals in the last dozen games and center Jonathan Drouin, acquired from Tampa Bay in the offseason, has just one point in his past 10 contests and is slated to play his 200th NHL game Thursday. Forward Andrew Shaw scored Montreal’s only goal Tuesday to become the second player to reach double figures (10).
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay D Mikhail Sergachev, who came over in the Drouin trade, has three assists and a plus-4 rating in the last two contests.
2. Montreal G Carey Price made 31 saves in the Dec. 28 game at Tampa Bay and is 12-13-6 with a .915 save percentage lifetime against the Lightning.
3. The Lightning are 3-0-1 in the last four meetings after dropping five straight against the Canadiens.