TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for his 36th career shutout to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils 4-0 on Saturday night.
Vasilevskiy, who became the fastest goaltender in NHL to reach 300 wins when he beat Winnipeg 4-1 on Thursday night, had his second shutout of the season. He was at his best midway through the second period, robbing Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier after each was left alone in front of the net.
Nick Paul put Tampa Bay at 14:27 of the opening period when his long wrist shot went through a screen and past Jacob Markstrom. Darren Raddysh scored 39 seconds into the third period to double the lead, Victor Hedman added a power-play goal at 7:40 and Anthony Cirelli was credited with an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left when Devils defenseman Luke Hughes threw his stick to keep the puck out of the net.
Tampa Bay has won five in a row against New Jersey, including both games this season, and is 9-1-0 in its past 10 meetings with the Devils.
Markstrom finished with 22 saves for New Jersey, which came into the game off back-to-back road wins against the Florida Panthers.
Takeaways
Devils: New Jersey, which entered the game second in the NHL with 72 goals, was shut out for the third time this month.
Lightning
The Lightning scored first for the ninth consecutive game. They are 5-3-1 during that span.
Key moment
Cirelli won a faceoff cleanly to set up Raddysh’s third-period goal and give the Lightning some breathing room.
Key stat
Vasilevskiy improved to 9-5-0 in his career against New Jersey, but it was the first time he’s shut out the Devils.
Up next
The Devils host Carolina on Thursday night. The Lightning visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
John Kreiser, The Associated Press
