Brayden Point had two goals and an assist Tuesday, and newly named All-Star Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season as the Tampa Bay Lightning started a new points streak with a 4-0 victory against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
Mathieu Joseph and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who had their 16-game point streak snapped Saturday with a 5-2 loss at San Jose. Tampa Bay improved to 11-0-0 this season against teams from the Metropolitan Division.
Earlier in the day, Vasilevskiy was added to the Atlantic Division roster for the Jan. 26 NHL All-Star Game in San Jose as an injury replacement for Montreal's Carey Price. Vasilevskiy will join Lightning teammates Kucherov and Steven Stamkos on the Atlantic Division squad.
Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 of 19 shots before he was replaced in the third period. Joonas Korpisalo stopped all three shots he faced in relief.
The Blue Jackets' John Tortorella remains one win shy of becoming the 19th coach in NHL history to reach 600 career victories.
Joseph and Point scored 44 seconds apart late in the first period to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
Joseph opened the scoring at 15:55, as Mikhail Sergachev drove down the right wing and backhanded a pass in the slot to Joseph, who batted the puck past Bobrovsky.
At 16:39, Kucherov corralled a rebound near the goal line, and his centering pass deflected off Point and into the net. Tyler Johnson was also credited with an assist. Point has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past 10 games.
The second period was scoreless, despite the Blue Jackets outshooting the Lightning 17-3.
Tampa Bay doubled its advantage in the opening half of the third period.
Kucherov scored on a two-on-one break with Johnson at 6:05. Johnson took the defenseman wide right of the net and pushed a pass back to Kucherov, who beat Bobrovsky before the goalie could recover.
Point capped the scoring at 8:53, charging down the right wing and slipping a close-range shot between Bobrovsky's pad and the right post.
--Field Level Media
Columbus | Tampa Bay | |
N/A | Points | Brayden Point 3 |
N/A | Goals | Brayden Point 2 |
N/A | Assists | Tyler Johnson 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Joonas Korpisalo 1.000 | Save Percentage | Andrei Vasilevskiy 1.000 |
Sergei Bobrovsky 15 | Saves | Andrei Vasilevskiy 31 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Columbus | 31 | 0 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2 | 19 |
Tampa Bay | 22 | 4 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2 | 26 |