4th Straight Loss For Blackhawks As They Fall To Tampa Bay Lightning Again
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots for his franchise-record tying 11th consecutive victory, Victor Hedman had three assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Saturday.
Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, and Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point also scored for Tampa Bay. Alex Killorn had two assists, and the Lightning improved to 12-2-0 at home.
Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost four straight and six of seven. Malcolm Subban finished with 25 saves.
Point put Tampa Bay in front at 6:21 of the opening period, cutting across the crease for a pass from Killorn and stuffing the puck inside the far post for his 12th goal of the season.
Cirelli increased the lead to 2-0 during 4-on-4 play when he cut from just below the blue line away from Duncan Keith and took a feed from Mikhail Sergachev. Cirelli cut in alone and deked to his backhand before flipping a puck over Subban at 1:53 of the second period. Sergachev picked up his 100th career assist on the play.
Chicago controlled most of the second period despite being kept off the board.
The Blackhawks had 1:22 of a 5-on-3 power play but was unable to register a shot on goal and just four shot attempts. Patrick Kane was denied on a breakaway chance at 7:55, and Pius Suter was stopped on a breakaway chance at 15:28.
Tampa Bay wound up scoring twice more in the second period to build a 4-0 lead.
Gourde broke in with speed down the left wing boards and cut in for a one-handed shovel attempt that was turned aside, but he found the rebound at 14:15.
On a late power play chance, Stamkos won a faceoff back to Hedman, who put a shot on goal before Killorn was able to retrieve the rebound and get a pass over to Stamkos at the left circle for a one-timer at 18:21.
The shutout bid for Vasilevskiy ended at 4:50 of the third period when Dominik Kubalik found DeBrincat alone in the low shot for a quick wrist shot.
KILLING IT ON OFFENSE
Killorn has at least one point in all seven games this season against the Blackhawks with one more meeting scheduled for April 27 in Chicago. Killorn saw his streak of goals in five consecutive games against Chicago end.
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING: Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Chicago has one regulation victory against Tampa Bay in 24 meetings. The only victory for the Blackhawks in seven meetings this season came in a shootout.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Lightning: Host Florida Panthers on Sunday.
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