TAMPA, Fla. _ He is called the "Big Cat" for a reason. He makes saves that end up on highlight reels. Saves that make you want to replay them over and over.
And now his name is cemented in Lightning history.
Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy got his 132nd career win in a 6-2 victory over the Ducks on Saturday night at Amalie Arena, surpassing mentor Ben Bishop's franchise record of 131. Vasilevskiy set the record in 222 games. Bishop set his mark in 227.
Vasilevskiy has led all league goaltenders in wins since Feb. 26, 2017, 102 in 149 games.
Jan Rutta helped the Lightning get on the board first with less than four minutes remaining in the opening period. Rutta took a shot from the blue line that was blocked in traffic, but Brayden Point got the toe of his stick on the puck and tapped it past Ducks goalie Ryan Miller.
The lead didn't last long. About two minutes later, with the Lightning on a power play, the Ducks' Derek Grant got a short-handed goal off poor Lightning puck management.
In the second period, the Lightning went back on top when Nikita Kucherov scored. Anthony Cirelli battled for the puck along the boards behind the net and fished it out to Kucherov.
The advantage didn't last long again. Rickard Rakell got the tying goal about two minutes later.
The Lightning's sloppy puck possession from the first period carried over into much of the second, but Point's second goal of the night changed momentum.
Anaheim's Hampus Lindholm was sent to the box for hooking, which gave Tampa Bay a power play about halfway into the period.
Vasilevskiy cradled the puck along his stick as Victor Hedman skated toward the Lightning end zone. But as Hedman made his way back down the ice toward the other players, he found an open lane and passed the puck forward instead of dishing it backward or to his left.
Point was the lone man on the right side of the ice, and Anaheim gave him all the space he needed for Tampa Bay to get back in the lead with the power play goal. It was Point's first PPG of the season.
The second-period goals didn't stop there as Pat Maroon notched the fourth goal of the evening for the Lightning with less than six minutes remaining in the frame.
Yanni Gourde passed up the puck along the boards to find Mikhail Sergachev hovering over the blueline.
And while everyone was paying attention to Sergachev blasting one from the distance, everyone forgot about Maroon, who was standing in front of the goal and in the sweet spot for rebounding Sergachev's shot into the net to give the Lightning a two-goal lead.
If four wasn't enough, the net was certainly overflowing when Cirelli notched Tampa Bay's fifth goal of the night, from the ground nonetheless. With the goal, Cirelli extended his streak to four goals in four straight games.
And to ensure the win was by a wide enough margin, Ondrej Palat notched the last goal of the night on the Lightning power play. Palat's goal was the 100th of his career as he became the 11th all-time Lightning player to score 100 goals with the franchise.
