On the heels of a Game 3 loss to the New Jersey Devils in their first round playoff series that was closer than the score would indicate, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked to bounce back in Game 4. On Tuesday evening, the Lightning received the news that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy earned his first-ever Vezina Trophy nomination.
About 24 hours later, Vasilevskiy showed why he earned the nod as a Vezina finalist. Vasilevskiy made 27 big saves, each one looking just as difficult as the one before, in leading the Lightning to a 3-1 win over the Devils in Newark. The victory gave the Lightning a 3-1 series lead heading into Game 5. The Bolts will have a chance to close out the series in Tampa this Saturday afternoon in Game 5. J.T. Miller finished the night with a goal and two assists while Nikita Kucherov tallied a pair of goals and one assist, as the team’s top line had their best game of the series in all phases of the game.
The hard-fought, physical match we saw on Monday night carried over into Wednesday evening.
The Bolts brought an aggressive look to the ice, and it was a hard-hitting, physical battle throughout. Kucherov and Steven Stamkos delivered big hits, with Kucherov’s check on Sami Vatanen knocking the Devils’ defenseman out of the game. However, with the physical play came several penalties on both teams, with the Lightning penalty killers needing to come up big.
The Bolts are the most penalized team so far in the playoffs, having faced seven New Jersey power plays in Game 3 and six tonight. The Devils scored early in the first period during a 5-on-3 power play on a goal by Kyle Palmieri, the second straight game in which New Jersey cashed in on a two-man advantage. Despite the early 1-0 deficit, Miller answered quickly with his first goal of the playoffs, tying the game 1-1. Miller fired a wrist shot from a difficult angle, giving the Bolts a big momentum boost.
They added another goal a few minutes later, by Cory Conacher, but after review, the officials determined that Tampa was offsides when Cedric Paquette didn’t clear the zone in time. This could have caused the Bolts to lose their stride, but Kucherov responded with a no-doubter to bring the score to 2-1 before the first period ended.
While there was only one goal for the remainder of the game, Vasilevskiy was there to slam the door shut when the Lightning needed him.
Overall, the Bolts played their best defensive game of the series, surviving some offensive surges by New Jersey and keeping Devils star winger Taylor Hall in check. Although Tampa Bay kept the Devils in check, Vasilevskiy made some key saves at important times to keep New Jersey from tying the game. The Lightning gave up just 28 shots, their fewest allowed in the series, suffocating New Jersey over the final 20 minutes. The Devils pulled goalie Cory Schneider with the hope of tying the game, but the Lightning tallied an empty net goal from Kucherov with just over a minute left to put the game on ice.
The Lightning seek to advance to the second round when they host the Devils at Amalie Arena in Game 5 on Saturday. Puck drops at 3 pm on NBC locally.
Game Notes
-Vasilevskiy now owns a 7-6 career playoff record.
-Miller’s goal was just the second playoff goal he’s scored in 44 career playoff games.
-Kucherov has tallied points in every game of this series, including multi-point efforts in the last three games.
-Stamkos has also notched at least a point in all four games against New Jersey.
-Defenseman Braydon Coburn earned his first point of the playoffs by assisting on Kucherov’s first goal.
Our Three Stars of the Game
1st Star: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Finished with 27 saves, earning his third win of the series.
2nd Star: Nikita Kucherov – Scored the game-winning goal and added an empty net goal to go along with one assist.
3rd Star: J.T. Miller – Scored his first goal of the playoffs and added two assists.
