Nikita Kucherov netted an unassisted first-period breakaway goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy made it stand with 21 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from a loss in Philadelphia four days earlier with a 2-0 win over the visiting Flyers on Monday.
In the lone home match right in the middle of a seven-game stretch featuring six on the road, the Lightning (39-23-5, 83 points) killed all five Philadelphia power plays as they wrapped up the season series by beating the Flyers for the first time (1-0-2).
Kucherov totaled a goal and an assist in the win. Jake Guentzel scored a power-play marker, his 15th, and team-leading 33rd overall into an empty net with 90 seconds left as the Lightning moved to 24-8-2 at home.
After earning just one win on a season-high seven-game homestand, the Flyers (28-33-8, 64 points) opened a five-game road trip by getting blanked for the seventh time. Ivan Fedotov made 21 saves, but the Flyers fell to 2-7-0 in March.
In the opening period, Tampa Bay held a 9-2 shot advantage until Yanni Gourde went off for hooking the Flyers’ Cam York at 9:46. Despite Philadelphia firing six shots on goal against Vasilevskiy in the two minutes, the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner kept it scoreless.
With Philadelphia coach John Tortorella fuming at the officials over a holding penalty against Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale, Guentzel negated his club’s first power play with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (abuse of officials) on the opening draw of the man advantage.
In four-on-four play, Kucherov put his team on the board by stealing the puck from Travis Konecny up high and breaking away for his 29th goal past Fedotov with 89 seconds remaining in the frame.
The Flyers clamped down the defense and controlled much of the play in the second, holding the Lightning without a shot for more than 12 minutes and earning a double-minor power play. Still, they could not beat Vasilevskiy.
Early in the third, Kucherov threaded a perfect stretch pass to Brandon Hagel, but Fedotov snagged the one-on-one try to keep it 1-0.
Vasilevskiy stayed strong throughout and recorded seven third-period saves to lock down his 39th career shutout and fifth this season.
–Field Level Media
