Steven Stamkos notched two goals and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning rolled to the NHL’s season-best sixth straight win, beating the host Nashville Predators 6-1 on Tuesday night.
The victory eclipsed the Carolina Hurricanes’ five-win stretch from Jan. 18-Feb. 2. Tampa Bay’s last loss was a 1-0 overtime defeat at Carolina on Jan. 28 — part of that Hurricanes streak.
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Mathieu Joseph scored twice, Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist, and Yanni Gourde tallied. Mikhail Sergachev and Brayden Point each produced three assists and Victor Hedman had two for the Lightning, who were 3-for-5 on the power play.
After making 35 straight starts and getting Monday night off in the team’s 4-1 win, Andrei Vasilevskiy returned to the crease and turned away 32 of 33 shots to go to 8-1-1.
Rocco Grimaldi netted a goal, Sean Malone posted his first NHL point and goalie Juuse Saros yielded six goals on 30 shots.
The struggling Finnish netminder has allowed four or more goals in three straight starts.
The Predators lost for the fourth time against Tampa Bay this season and have dropped eight of their last 11 (3-8-0).
Scratched from the lineup on Monday, Grimaldi raced in on Hedman, made a cut inside at the left circle and ripped his second goal at 4:43.
Playing in only his second NHL game — his debut was on April 8, 2017, for the Buffalo Sabres — Malone recorded the primary assist for his first career point.
But the visitors scored three times in a span of 2:35 to take control of the penalty-filled first, which featured a combined eight minor infractions and seven power plays.
Stamkos banged in his sixth goal at 11:28, then he slid a circle-to-circle pass that Palat finished on the team’s third man advantage. Joseph tallied from a sharp diagonal pass from Sergachev for the third time at 14:03 for a 3-1 lead.
At 16:23 of the second, Colton Sissons appeared to cut it to 3-2 when he beat Vasilevskiy on the glove side. However, the Lighting’s ensuing challenge showed that Sissons was offside, and the goal was overturned.
Gourde’s fourth tally on a backhander in the third, followed by power-play goals from Stamkos and Joseph, put the contest away to complete the two-game sweep.
–Field Level Media