Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist in a record-tying outing, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots and the host Tampa Bay Lightning blanked the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Monday night.
The NHL’s points leader with 42 in 25 games, Kucherov scored the contest’s first goal to stretch his point streak to 10 games.
His assist on the second marker of the night gave him 10 consecutive games with a helper, matching the franchise record. Martin St. Louis had 10-game streaks in 2006-07 and 2009-10, and Brad Richards had a 10-game run in 2005-06.
In his fifth start since returning from back surgery, Vasilevskiy recorded his 33rd career shutout and sixth against Dallas.
Anthony Cirelli scored twice and Luke Glendening also potted a goal as Tampa Bay improved to 7-3-3 at home. The Lightning snapped a season-high, four-game losing streak.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman played in his 1,000th NHL game. The No. 2 overall pick of the 2009 draft received a pregame video tribute from his former teammates and gifts from the league and the organization.
While getting shut out for the second time this season, Dallas got 19 saves from netminder Jake Oettinger, while Joe Pavelski’s nine-game point streak ended.
The Stars took just their second road regulation loss (8-2-2).
After the Stars thrashed the Lightning 8-1 on Saturday in Dallas in the first clash between the teams, Kucherov made the Stars pay early in the rematch when he slipped in behind their defense during zone time.
Mikhail Sergachev fired a pass into the slot for the right winger, who found the top left corner of the net for his team-leading 16th goal of the season at 7:47 of the first.
Vasilevskiy, who surrendered six goals in two periods on Saturday, was brilliant in an extended stretch with Dallas in the offensive end late in the first period as the Lightning were unable to clear the puck.
During the barrage, he made point-blank stops on Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson to keep the visitors off the board.
Cirelli battled his way into position near Oettinger and made it 2-0 at 18:21 of the first. Erik Cernak and Kucherov posted assists on the tally.
In the second, Vasilevskiy kept it 2-0 with 10 saves while his teammates only put four shots on Oettinger.
The Lightning netminder made a sliding save on a one-timer by Tyler Seguin with 14 seconds left in the frame to maintain the two-goal margin.
Glendening blocked a shot near the neutral zone and raced in on a breakaway, scoring on a backhander against his former club at 3:05 of the third.
Cirelli’s fifth marker of the season completed the game’s scoring at 12:12.
–Field Level Media
