Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Montreal for Tenth Win in 11 Games

The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a quick start to the 2017-18 NHL season and are showing no signs of slowing down. On December 28th, Tampa Bay hosted the Montreal Canadiens and scored twice in the third period to break a 1-1 tie for a 3-1 victory. Steven Stamkos scored two goals for Tampa Bay, while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had 31 saves. It was the Lightning’s tenth win in their last 11 games, improving their record to 27-7-2 (56 points), best in the entire NHL. They lead Toronto by nine points in the Atlantic Division, and lead the Eastern Conference by seven points over New Jersey and Washington.

Statistics don’t always paint a clear picture of how a team is doing, but in Tampa Bay’s case, they do shed some light on the team’s success. Nikita Kucherov, who had an assist in the win over Montreal, is tied with Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals with 24; Kucherov leads the NHL with 52 points. Vasilevskiy is second in both goals against average (2.09) and save percentage (.934), behind Aaron Dell of San Jose. Dell has only played in 13 games, while Vasilevskiy is 24-5-1 in 30 games, and is the league leader in wins. As a team, the Lightning lead the NHL in scoring are second in fewest goals allowed per game. If you are leading the league both offensively and defensively, you figure to cash in and the Lightning are doing just that.

Tampa Bay hosts Philadelphia on December 29th and then hits the road for a game in Columbus on New Year’s Eve.