Mikheyev Strikes Twice as Lightning Stay Perfect at Amalie
Soderblom gives up more than Chicago could afford while Vasilevskiy wins the goaltending duel that settled a closer game than it looked
The score says Tampa Bay cruised, but this was a closer game than 4-1. The Lightning had the better of the chances, though not by much. The real gap was in goal.
Tampa's chances were worth 2.85 expected goals, a measure of how many goals their looks should produce. Chicago's were worth 2.26. That is a modest edge. Tampa scored four, and Chicago scored one.
Arvid Soderblom stopped 31 of 35, letting in more than Tampa's chances deserved. At the other end, Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 24 of 25 and gave up less than Chicago's looks were worth. No pucks rang off the iron, so there were no hard-luck near misses to explain it away. This one came down to the goalies.
Ilya Mikheyev made it count with two goals on three shots, on a line with Zemgus Girgensons and Pontus Holmberg. Erik Cernak added two assists, and defencemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh both scored. Roman Kantserov got Chicago's lone goal.
The Lightning are now 7-0-0 at home and hold the first wild-card spot at 9-3-2. Chicago falls to 4-11-1.
