@jayRecher
Victor Hedman scored just 49 seconds into the game, his first of two scores, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Lightning defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
After a tough loss to the Bruins on Tuesday night, you knew the Lightning wanted to get out to a quick start.
And that's exactly what they did when Hedman rifled one through the five-hole of Montreal goaltender Carey Price to put Tampa Bay up 1-0.
The Lightning continued to push to try and double their lead and that's exactly what they did at the 12:40 mark of the 1st.
Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn executed a picture-perfect 2-on-1 and Killorn snapped one over the glove of Price to make it 2-0 Tampa Bay.
Nikita Kucherov scored with 1:05 left in the 2nd to push the Lightning lead to three, but the real excitement came at the end of the period.
Following a scrum in the corner which ended up giving Tampa Bay a power play to start the 3rd, Mikhail Sergachev and Montreal captain Shea Weber dropped the gloves and the two D-Men threw some absolute haymakers. Sergachev landed more of the significant strikes in the scuffle and was serenaded with applause from his teammates as he skated to the locker room.
Hedman added his second goal with 63 seconds left in the 3rd, a power play tally which was assisted by Kevin Shattenkirk. That assist was Shattenkirk's 300th in his NHL career.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Hedman - (Kucherov, Cernak) - 0:49
- Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Cirelli) - 12:40
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Kucherov - (Maroon) - 18:55
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - PPG - Hedman (2) - (Shattenkirk, Gourde) - 18:57
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Bogosian - (Interference) - 4:59
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Shattenkirk - (Holding) - 15:52
- Montreal - Chiarot - (Roughing) - 20:00
- Montreal - MAJOR - Weber - (Fighting) - 20:00
- Tampa Bay - MAJOR - Sergachev - (Fighting) - 20:00
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Interference) - 14:59
- Montreal - Chiarot - (Roughing) - 17:26
- Montreal - Chiarot - 10-Minute Misconduct - 17:26
- Montreal - Folin - (Slashing) - 19:44
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action Saturday night as they travel up to Boston to take on the Bruins. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm with the pregame show starting at 6:30pm up the dial on our sister station NewsRadio WFLA.
PHOTO : Getty Images