"Lightning penalty kill, Vasilevskiy combine to eliminate Philadelphia, securing their second consecutive victory

With the Tampa Bay Lightning leading 1-0 midway through the second period on Monday, the home team was faced with an extended challenge.

Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg was assessed a double minor for high-sticking with 9:22 left in the period, opening an extended chance for the visiting Philadelphia Flyers to tie the game.

Tampa Bay responded by holding the Flyers to zero shots on goal in the long 5-on-4 while fighting to earn two shots of their own. Tampa Bay followed the extended penalty kill with a strong third period and an empty-net goal to earn a 2-0 win.

Defensemen JJ Moser and Victor Hedman each played over four minutes on the penalty kill, and Moser made a key diving pass block on a Flyers rush chance during the double minor.

Tampa Bay’s penalty kill group has now erased 24 of 26 penalties in March, an impressive 92.3% kill rate.

“One goal game, that was big for us to get out of that still with the lead,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the kill.“For us to hold them off the sheet, we did a great job limiting scoring chances and obviously big for us going into the third.”

The Lightning are now 39-23-5 this season and have won two straight games.

Tampa Bay’s leading scorer broke an even first period late in the frame. Nikita Kucherov poked the puck off the tape of Flyers forward Travis Konecny’s stick at the Lightning defensive blue line and rushed down the ice on a breakaway.

His shot into the top left corner of the Philadelphia net evaded goalie Ivan Fedotov and made it 1-0 Tampa Bay with 1:29 remaining in the period.

"He obviously reads the game as good as anybody and saw an opportunity to take away the puck and did his thing on the breakaway,” Ryan McDonagh said of the goal. “So huge play for us, obviously turns into the game winner. It's been great to have him back. Even just missing one game feels like an eternity for us when he's out. He’s such a huge part of this team, and great for him to get rewarded there.”

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. He was particularly busy on a first period penalty kill, stopping five Flyers shots on the man advantage to keep the game tied 0-0.

Vasilevskiy’s shutout was his first since Feb. 27, when he stopped 28 shots against the Calgary Flames. The 30-year-old goalie is now 32-18-3 and has won three of his last five starts.

“Regular season is about ups and downs, so it’s basically 82 games of preparation for the playoffs. Obviously you want to feel good about your game,” Vasilevskiy said postgame. “So again, that commitment to play D obviously helps a lot to improve my numbers. It’s a team effort. No goalie in this league could be successful without a good team.”

Monday's game was a physical one, with both sides throwing big hits throughout the effort. Tampa Bay weathered 41 Flyers hits in a game that was sealed with Jake Guentzel’s empty-net goal on a power play in the final minutes.

"They're a hard working team, they do things the right way,” Lightning forward Luke Glendening said. “It was a battle. It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to get two points.”

Brayden Point and Kucherov assisted on the empty-netter. The latter led all players with two points.

The Lightning restricted the Flyers to 12 shots across the final two periods.

"You need all four lines and pairings to really step up there and play high percentage, a little bit of grind to our game,” McDonagh said of closing out the win. “Like I said, it’s just putting pucks behind them and going to work. We feel like our forechecking game has become a huge strength. It was evident last game against Boston, and probably didn't get to it enough tonight, but certainly in the third there making them go 200 feet was the key.”

Tampa Bay now heads back on the road for a three-game swing that begins with an 8 p.m. start against the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

The Lightning remain in second place in the Atlantic Division and are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs at 83 standings points. They are two points back of first place in the Atlantic, trailing only the Florida Panthers' 85 points.

“You’re looking at it, for sure,” McDonagh said of the standings. “You’re less than 20 games (left) and 10, 15 games ago we were kind of slipping down the standings. We put together a good run and we put ourselves in a good spot here for the stretch run.”

“We just want to build our game to as close to 60 minutes as we can here, and each game is going to be more intense and more significant here for us. We still haven't accomplished our goal yet of clinching the playoffs. We’ve got to do that and keep building our game here."

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (21-save shutout)

2. Nikita Kucherov, TBL (Goal, assist)

3. Ivan Fedotov, PHI (21 saves)