The Backcheck: Vasilevskiy silences Calgary as Bolts win streak hits seven games

They say the proof is in the pudding.

Or, if you’re the Tampa Bay Lightning, it might be in the numbers. The Lightning pushed their winning streak to seven consecutive games on Thursday with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Calgary Flames at AMALIE Arena.

Tampa Bay improved to 34-20-4 with the win, which closed a near perfect February in which the Lightning posted a 7-0-1 record.

This marks just the fourth time in franchise history—and first since 2018—that the Lightning have finished a calendar month without a regulation loss.

“Calgary’s a good team. They just beat Washington, which is probably one of the best in the league,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said postgame. “But to get a shutout and score big goals is big for us and a big confidence boost. We want to keep building on this.”

A number that stood out Thursday was Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shot tracker, which ended with a clean slate and no goals against—Vasilevskiy stopped all 27 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season.

Vasilevskiy has been in net for all seven wins during the Bolts’ streak, a stretch in which he’s posted a .944 save percentage.

The goalie’s performance on Thursday included numerous saves of the ‘How did he stop that?’ variety, namely a sprawling stretch to deny Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau on a power play early in the second period to keep the Bolts ahead 1-0.

A point shot was deflected in front of the Lightning net and reached a crashing Huberdeau near the left post, but Vasilevskiy sprung his right leg pad across the crease to deny the tying goal.

“You could tell it gave us a little bit of a boost,” Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak said. “The building went crazy when he made that save. Everybody’s talking like, ‘How good is Vasy?’ But to us, he’s the best goalie in the world. He’s bailing us out at the right time, and we’re happy we have him in our net. This season he’s been unreal.”

The Flames had more chances than Tampa Bay in the opening 15 minutes of Thursday’s game, but a late Lightning power play handed the home team the game’s first goal.

As the clock ticked under a minute remaining in the first period, Nikita Kucherov’s pass attempt on the power play bounced off a defenseman’s skate in front of the Calgary net and slipped through goalie Dustin Wolf for the 1-0 lead.

A back-and-forth second period saw neither team score before Cernak kept the Bolts faithful on their feet in period three.

Forward Brandon Hagel found the puck atop the left faceoff circle just under four minutes into the third period and dished to Cernak at the right point, whose shot inside the circle beat Wolf on the blocker side.

Cernak now has three goals in his last six games. He acknowledged that the first period wasn’t Tampa Bay’s best hockey, but he liked the way his team played after the opening 20 minutes.

“I feel like when it’s just a one-goal lead it’s a little bit harder because they were playing hard. The last 10 to 15 minutes they were pushing our guys heavy, cheating a little bit because they had to score. So it was great to get a two-goal lead, and we shut it down right after.”

Hagel’s second point of the night was the game-sealing empty-net goal with 2:50 remaining in the game, his 29th score of the season. Hedman cleared the defensive zone, and Hagel beat all six Flames to the loose puck in the offensive end before tapping the puck into the open cage.

Hagel and Hedman (two assists) co-led the Lightning in scoring on Thursday. The latter said Tampa Bay’s ability to close games in the third period has improved from the beginning of the season.

“On the bench and on the ice, you feel comfortable in those situations, and that’s when you know you have four guys that feel the same way. Protecting the lead is one thing, but to play to our strengths and not sit back is what has made us successful,” Hedman said. “We’ve found that fine line of pushing the play and when to sit back and protect the middle. Guys have done a real good job of buying into that.”

Tampa Bay now heads on the road for a short two-game trip that begins against the Eastern Conference’s top team, the Washington Capitals, on Saturday.

Washington (38-13-8 this season) will host the Lightning for an earlier 12:30 p.m. start. Tampa Bay can extend its win streak to eight games, which would be the team's longest since 2019-20 and tie for the fifth-longest win streak in franchise history.

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (27-save shutout)

2. Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, assist)

3. Erik Cernak, TBL (Game-winning goal)