Thursday was a night of milestones for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who ended a four-game losing streak in record-breaking fashion at AMALIE Arena.
Fans in attendance for Thursday night’s clash between their hometown Bolts and the top team in the NHL standings were treated to Tampa Bay’s first win of November, a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
Lightning fans left with plenty to be happy about—Andrei Vasilevskiy became the fastest goalie in NHL history to earn his 300th career win, Anthony Cirelli scored his 100th career goal and Victor Hedman continued his climb up the Lightning record books.
The win improves Tampa Bay to 8-6-1 this season as the Lightning limited the top scoring team in the NHL to one goal and became only the second team to beat Winnipeg (15-2-0) this year.
"They're a good hockey team over there, but at the same time we believe we're a good hockey team over here and we're gonna start getting points and getting home wins,” Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel said postgame.
“And six days off, we went out there, worked on some things, did some good things and in practice got better. And I thought we came out and did exactly what we were supposed to. I think we didn't beat ourselves up. We kind of just waited, waited, capitalized when we needed to and then defended when we needed to.”
Jake Guentzel was the first player to find twine on Thursday, opening the scoring early with the help of Nick Paul on a night the Lightning played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Paul skated the puck into the left side of the offensive zone, getting to the top of the face-off circle before dropping a pass between his legs to a waiting Guentzel.
Guentzel fired a snapshot into the lower left corner of the net past a reaching Eric Comrie for his sixth goal of the season 7 minutes, 24 seconds into the game.
Brandon Hagel extended Tampa Bay’s lead with his eighth goal of the season on another slick setup by the Lightning.
Defenseman Emil Lilleberg found fellow blueliner Darren Raddysh near the Lightning bench at the right point, and Raddysh delivered a cross-ice pass to a crashing Hagel. The forward finished the play by wiring the puck into the top right corner of the net for the 2-0 lead 3:10 into the second.
Two Lightning players combined for career milestones to push the Lightning lead to 3-0 less than a minute after Hagel’s marker.
Bolts captain Victor Hedman ripped a shot on the power play from the top of the top unit's setup, a look that was deflected behind Comrie by center Anthony Cirelli 3:10 into the second.
The goal was the 100th of Cirelli’s NHL career. Hedman’s assist was the 583rd of his career, moving him into second place for most career assists in Lightning history. He needs six more to pass Martin St. Louis for the all-time record.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper acknowledged both Cirelli and Hagel postgame.
“They’re really, really good players and they’re elite penalty killers,” Cooper said of the forward duo. “They showed it tonight and were both rewarded with a goal. I thought they were outstanding.”
Adam Lowry was the only player to beat Vasilevskiy, as he redirected a point shot in the second period to cut the home team’s lead to 3-1 at the 6:54 mark.
The Lightning outshot Winnipeg 13 to 6 in the second period, a good sign as the Bolts look to correct previous lulls during the second period of previous games this season.
Guentzel got his second goal of the game with an empty-netter in the last minute of play to push the final score to 4-1.
Vasilevskiy’s win improved his record to 7-5-1 this year and stood as No. 300 in his career for the goalie who already owns the franchise record for wins.
Vasilevskiy said the achievement is about his teammates as well, and he feels fortunate to have won 300 games in Tampa Bay.
"I obviously feel really fortunate to win 300 games for the same hockey club, first of all. It does not happen that often nowadays. Obviously, it is hard to win in this league but, over the last ten years, I have played for such a great team. The guys, they give it all out there on the ice and they help me out a lot during the game every night, so big love to them for that”
The goalie aimed for a rink-long shot at the empty net in the final minutes, but it was stopped by a Winnipeg player.
Vasilevskiy finished with 23 saves.
"How do you become the best? You are put in the big moments at the big times, and you deliver time and time again,” Cooper said of his goalie. “And anytime you say best, greatest, fastest, usually, something's coming with it, and to do what he's done and get 300 wins in the amount of time that he accomplished that—along the way, winning a Vezina, winning two Stanley Cups, participating in four finals—I'm not so sure what else you can say.”
"And then you put him in a game that he can get to 300 against the best team that's 15-1. And again, he rises to the occasion. He's been a pleasure to coach. He's generational, and he's still in his prime. … And I think you watch him play now, the (Big) Cat's not going anywhere.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (23 saves)
2. Jake Guentzel, TBL (2 goals)
3. Anthony Cirelli, TBL (100th career goal)
