Vasilevskiy, Kucherov lead Lightning to live another day

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
April 7, 2017

Lightning strong.

That’s the only way to describe the resolve of a Tampa Bay team counted out so many times.

Yet, they just keep getting back up on their skates and pushing forward, trying to find some way – any way – to keep winning games.

That’s exactly what this team did, once again, waltzing in to Montreal and staying in the playoff dance heading in to the final two days of the regular season.

And, for at least one day, the Lightning wlll be big fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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With the national spotlight on the Bell Centre on Friday, the Lightning went out and took care of their own business, beating the Montreal Canadiens and goaltender Carey Price, 4-2.

With the victory, Tampa Bay moves to within one point of the Toronto Maple Leafs – the team Tampa Bay knocked off a night earlier – for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. A loss of any kind for Toronto on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Lightning head in to the final game of the season on Sunday at home against Buffalo still with the chance to sneak into the playoffs.

“I think it just shows the type of character we have,” defenseman Anton Stralman told NHL.com. “Whoever’s in or out of the lineup, it doesn’t matter, we all work for each other and everybody fills their role and plays their part. It’s fun playing like this. Everybody can feel the passion we have and everybody’s coming along, playing well together, and we’re effective when we play like that. Unfortunately it hasn’t been consistent enough this year, that’s why we are where we are, but we’re still giving us a chance. That’s all we can ask for at this point. It’s obviously not in our hands, but who knows? We do what we can do, and then we’ll see.”

None of that would have been possible without a victory on Friday in Montreal.

Led by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy – who made two highlight reel stops among his 27 saves – and a two-goal effort from Yanni Gourde, the Lightning did just that. Nikita Kucherov became the fifth different player in franchise history to reach the 40-goal mark, joining Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Brian Bradley on that list.

In a step from the usual recap, I’m going to offer some thoughts on how the Lightning were able to, once again, pull off a victory when they absolutely had to have one.

*Vasilevskiy – The coaching staff has been very careful with Vasilevskiy since the trade of Ben Bishop, hesitant to use him in both games of back-to-back situations. So it was a mild surprise to see that Tampa Bay turned to Vasilevskiy on Friday, one night after he picked up the victory in Toronto.

Heading in to the game, Vasilevskiy had not fared well on the second night of back-to-backs, posting 0-2-1 record, allowing 13 goals. And since the trade of Bishop, Vasilevskiy has spilt the back-to-backs with Peter Budaj. Vasilevskiy made the move pay off, coming up with two brilliant saves that are sure to show up on the top saves of the week on NHL Network.

*Kucherov shines again – A legitimate MVP candidate, Kucherov scored a goal that the crew at NBCSN couldn’t get enough of, particularly Jeremy Roenick. The goal came in the dying seconds of the first period when Ondrej Palat sent a home run pass up ice to a streaking Kucherov who, like a Pro Bowl wide receiver, followed the puck over his shoulder right on to the blade of his stick. Kucherov was able to settle puck and made a quick shift before firing a wrist shot past Price for a 2-0 lead late in the first period.

Kucherov, who is one of six Russian born players to record a 40-goal season before the age of 24 (Ovechkin, Mogliny, Bure, Malkin and Kovalchuk), also set up the first goal with a strong move to the net before firing off a shot off the post, with the rebound caroming to Gourde for the opening goal of the game.

*Gourde, he’s good – Gourde has become the poster boy for the late-season charge of the Lightning. All he’s done is score some significant goals for this team since he was called up from Syracuse for the second time this season on March 6. From his shorthanded goal against Florida on March 11 for his first career goal to his overtime winner against Chicago on March 27, Gourde has been in the middle of the late-season resurgence.

And with six goals on the season, five have come in the past seven games and three of them have come against Price. Quite the month for Gourde, who registered his first career multi-goal game in Montreal.

*Unsung hero – Gabriel Dumont does not show up on the scoresheet much and in fact has two goals and four points. But his contributions have been noticeable, just as they proved to be again on Friday. In his 13 minutes of ice time, Dumont proved a strong penalty killer, won 7-of-12 faceoffs, registered six hits and blocked two shots. It won’t earn him a star of the night, but it’s the type of performance that earns a player a hard hat after a game from his teammates.

Postgame notes:. C Tyler Johnson missed his second consecutive game with a lower body injury. … Tampa Bay won for the seventh consecutive time in the second half of back-to-back games. … LW Ondrej Palat collected his 20th point in the past 16 games. Palat leads all scorers in the league since March 23 with 14 points. … RW Cory Conacher recorded a pair of assists for his multi-point game since March 20, 2014, when he was with the Buffalo Sabres. …

My three stars:
1.Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov – 40th goal of the season, assist

2.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 27 saves to win on back-to-back nights

3.Lightning C Yanni Gourde – First career two-goal game, plus-3

Yanni Gourde postgame reaction

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Jon Cooper postgame reaction

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