MONTREAL _ The Lightning figured out their slow-start issue and got a boost from Andrei Vasilevskiy to beat the Canadiens 2-1 on Thursday night for their fifth straight win.
Anthony Cirelli not only put the first shot on net, but he scored on it, 48 seconds into the game. It was a good response to the Lightning's recent poor starts, especially in Saturday's home game against Montreal in which the Canadiens took the first 18 shots.
Cirelli tipped Erik Cernak's shot from the point past goalie Carey Price. Steven Stamkos also reached out for the puck, and credit for the goal shifted between the two players a couple of times before being officially being listed as Cirelli's by the end of the game.
Montreal followed up with an almost-power-play goal five minutes later. Jeff Petry scored six seconds after a power-play expired to tie the score at 1.
Enter Nikita Kucherov for Tampa Bay (22-13-4). Brayden Point set Kucherov up with a nice pass at the back door, where he had an open net. That put the Lightning back on top 2-1 8:28 into the game.
Vasilevskiy stood strong in goal to take care of things, making 38 saves. He has been up and down this season, but he looked like vintage Vasilevskiy on Thursday.
The 6-foot-2 goalie stretched his full length to rob Max Domi with a stick-less blocker save in the second period.
