TAMPA, Fla. _ Tampa Bay defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-2, Tuesday night in its first contest on home ice since Jan. 14. The Lightning closed out its Western Conference stint with an 11-point game streak and five wins in six games.
Brayden Point opened the scoring about halfway through the first period. Nikita Kucherov intercepted a Vegas deflection on the right side and shuffled out a pass to Point. The center was all alone on the left side and took the shot down the slot.
Minutes later Vegas' William Carrier tied it after taking a backward pass from Brayden McNabb.
And just before the first period came to a close Tyler Johnson found the open net off a double deflection from Ondrej Palat and Anthony Cirelli. It was Johnson's 13th goal of the season.
A quiet second period led to a more eventful third period as the Golden Knights tied the game for the second time when Paul Stastny managed to swing the puck past Vasilevskiy less than four minutes into the period.
With about 10 minutes remaining, Point went for his second goal of the night with a shot deep down the slot. But the puck caught Steven Stamkos' stick before finding the open net, giving the Lightning the 3-2 lead.
Alex Killorn topped off the night with an empty-netter to give the team a two-goal cushion with 44.7 seconds remaining.
The Golden Knights out-shot the home team 25-16. The chances were there, but the results said otherwise.
With the win, Vasilevskiy tied the franchise record for goalie point streaks with his 16th point, a stretch dating back to Dec. 17 and now boasting a 14-0-2 record.
The Lightning lost defenseman Jan Rutta late in the first period. He took a low hit from Nicolas Roy and went leg-first into the boards. He lay on the ice for a few moments clutching his right leg and was reluctant to put pressure on it as his teammates assisted him off of the ice. He did not return.
