Nikita Kucherov scored a dazzling game-winning goal, while Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his fifth shutout of the season as the Tampa Bay Lightning downed the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0.
Vasilevskiy stopped 21 shots en route to another all-star performance in net. The shutout was the 39th of the star goalie’s career. Tampa Bay won their second game in a row and pulled within two points of the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division.
For the Flyers, it was their seventh loss in their last eight games.
Tampa Bay opened the night with a similar intensity they showed Saturday night when they dominated the Boston Bruins. The Bolts outshot the Flyers 9-2 in the first half of the opening period, controlling play with effective passing and tenacious defense.
Kucherov opened the scoring with a steal-and-score near the end of the first period. During a four-on-four matchup, the Russian phenom stole the puck from Flyers forward Travis Konecny in the Bolt’s zone. Racing alone, Kucherov put the puck over the shoulder of Philadelphia goalie Ivan Fedotov as the home crowd erupted.
POV: you just asked us to define “perfection” pic.twitter.com/qqaaFd9qCQ
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 17, 2025
Defense Controls the Second Period
Philadelphia picked up their pace during the second period, limiting the Lightning to only four shots. The Bolts’ defense responded in kind as they held the Flyers to five.
A key momentum shift in the period occurred when Emil Lilleberg was sent off for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. The Lightning controlled the penalty kill for four minutes as Philadelphia could not muster much offense.
“That was big for us to get up and get out of that still with the lead,” Head coach Jon Cooper said afterward. “There was a total of nine total shots in that period, five for them, four for us.”
“They probably had six minutes of power play time. So for us to hold them off the sheet was obviously big for us.”
Lightning Need to Tighten Up Heading Out
Cooper openly said that the game was far from perfect, with too many turnovers. The Lightning gave up the puck 18 times. Acknowledging a tough road stretch starting this week in Dallas, Cooper reiterated the importance of tightening up their game.
“We’ve got to play better than that going to Dallas,” Cooper said. “It’s going to be a bit of a trip. Afternoon games. Night games. Different time zones.”
“So there’s a lot that’s going into this trip. We need to play better than we did tonight.”
Three Stars of the Game
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay. Stopped all 21 shots he faced to pick up his fifth shutout of the season and 39th of his career.
2. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay. In the first period, Kucherov stole the spotlight with a steal-and-score that would be the game-winner. The St. Patrick’s Day crowd was electrified!
3. Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay. In a game where Vasilevskiy said he needed the team in front of him to play strong defense as much as they needed him to save shots, Guentzel led the team with four blocked shots. He also had an empty net power play goal late.
Up Next
The Lightning get back on the road for a three-game stint starting Thursday against the Dallas Stars. The game is at 8 PM.
