TAMPA, Fla .: Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots for his franchise record tying 11th straight victory, Victor Hedman had three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Saturday.
Steven Stamkos scored a goal and an assist, and Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point also scored for Tampa Bay. Alex Killorn had two assists and the Lightning improved to 12-2-0 at home.
Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks, who lost four in a row and six of seven. Malcolm Subban finished with 25 saves.
Point put Tampa Bay in the lead at 6:21 of the opening period, cutting through the crease for a Killorn pass and stuffing the puck inside the far post for his 12th goal of the season.
Cirelli increased the lead to 2-0 in the 4v4 game when he cut just below the blue line away from Duncan Keith and took a feed from Mikhail Sergachev. Cirelli cut on his own and fell back to his backhand before returning a puck to Subban at 1:53 of the second period. Sergachev collected his 100th career assist on the game.
Chicago controlled most of the second period despite being absent from the table.
The Blackhawks were 1:22 on a 5-on-3 power play, but were unable to register one shot on goal and only four shooting attempts. Patrick Kane was disallowed on a breakaway chance at 7:55, and Pius Suter was stopped on a breakaway chance at 3:28 PM.
Tampa Bay ended up scoring twice more in the second period to take a 4-0 lead.
Gourde burst into the left wing boards with speed and cut for a one-handed shovel attempt that was deflected, but found the rebound at 2:15 pm.
On a late power play chance, Stamkos won a faceoff against Hedman, who put a shot on goal before Killorn could recover the rebound and pass to Stamkos in the left circle for a shot at 18: 21.
The shutout for Vasilevskiy ended at 4:50 of the third period when Dominik Kubalik found DeBrincat alone in the low shot for a quick wrist shot.
KILL ON OFFENSE
Killorn has at least one point in all seven games this season against the Blackhawks with another meeting scheduled for April 27 in Chicago. Killorn saw his goal streak end in five straight games against Chicago.
Lightning Struck: Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Chicago has won a regulation victory over Tampa Bay in 24 games. The Blackhawks’ only victory in seven games this season came in a shootout.
FOLLOWING
Blackhawks: Host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Lightning: Host the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
–
