Vasilevskiy’s Stellar Performance Lifts Bolts Over Canes

Nodded up at two goals with 12 minutes to go, Lightning winger, Ondrej Palat relentlessly fired loose rebounds on net before the puck deflected off a defender’s skate and crossed the goal line to break the tie.

Whatever it takes 👏 pic.twitter.com/dmxCCJbTtO

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2021

With under a minute remaining, Bolts winger Alex Killorn scored an empty netter to secure the 4-2 victory.

Following Monday night’s road win in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Tampa Bay Lightning sit just three points behind the first-place Florida Panthers in the Central Division.

Game Synopsis

Despite being outshot by four, the Lightning prevailed thanks to timely goals and star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 34-save performance. The former Vezina Trophy Winner surrendered only one even-strength goal en route to becoming just the second goalie to reach double-digit wins this season.

Hurricanes winger Jesper Fast put the Canes on the board first when he cleaned up a Vasilevskiy rebound for his first goal of the season.

Jesper showed… fast hands on that rebound pic.twitter.com/0lUn0C4BLN

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2021

Explosive Second Period

But Bolts captain Steven Stamkos answered two-and-a-half minutes into the second period by netting a power-play, one-time blast.

Tie game, Cap!! pic.twitter.com/iAue0f61Wn

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2021

Five minutes later, Lightning blueliner Victor Hedman received a cross-ice pass from defenseman Mikhail Sergachev before sniping Hurricanes goaltender James Reimer to take a 2-1 lead.

https://twitter.com/TBLightning/status/1364024841574187008?s=20

In the final minute of the period, Carolina capitalized on the power play as Jesper scored another acrobatic rebound goal.

Jesper has arrived pic.twitter.com/DeshInZ4a4

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2021

Game-Winner

Entering the third period all square, Palat scored the go-ahead goal as Vasilevskiy saved all 17 Carolina shots to clinch the Lightning’s 11th win this season.

Your #TBLvsCAR 3 Stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/hAac6Ggrys

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 23, 2021

Next up

After splitting two away matchups against Carolina, the Lightning will return to Tampa to host the Hurricanes on Wednesday and Thursday.