TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots, Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and assist and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory.
Zemgus Girgensons, Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Declan Carlile also scored and Jake Guentzel had two assists to help the Lightning match their longest streak of the season. They have won 13 of the past 16 games.
Vasilevskiy made 18 saves in the third period. He won his fifth consecutive start, allowing one-or-fewer goals in each of those starts.
Joel Farabee scored for Calgary. Devin Cooley stopped 17 shots in relief of Dustin Wolf, who was pulled at the 5:52 mark of the first period after allowing three goals on four shots. The Flames had won three in a row.
Tampa Bay scored twice in the first 1:26 and four times in the first 10:01, the third-fastest four goals to start a game in franchise history.
Hagel started things off 39 seconds in off the rush, beating Wolf with a wrist shot from the left circle. D’Astous fired a slap shot from the center point at 1:26.
Girgensons made it 3-0 at 5:52 when his attempted pass to the net deflected off the stick of Calgary’s Kevin Bahl and chased Wolf. It was the 200th NHL point for Girgensons. He's the third player from Latvia to reach the mark, joining Sandis Ozolish and Sergei Zholtok.
Carlile completed the first-period scoring for Tampa Bay with a quick shot from the left circle that beat Cooley at 10:01.
Farabee scored short-handed for Calgary 1:04 into the third.
Flames: At Florida on Friday
Lightning: At Detroit on Friday
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