Andrei Vasilevskiy made 45 saves to secure a shutout and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit’s solid defensive night limited Tampa Bay to just 18 shots on goal. But they could not solve Vasilevskiy, who made save after save to preserve the shutout. In contrast to the loss, the Red Wings can take some solace in their strong performance against one of the league’s top teams.

Vasilevskiy had a career night, tying a Lightning franchise record with his 45 save shutout. The Lightning goaltender moved to 14-2 against the Red Wings in his career. Dylan Larkin was clearly frustrated post game about the result, but also gave praise to Andrei. ” I mean we put a lot of shots at him, it’s the story of the game. You just couldn’t get one by him. I think we played a pretty good hockey game tonight against a good team, but he was their answer tonight.  You can tell a goalie like that’s just dialed in right from the start.”

“The power play we could have got more shots at him. But after the game, when you think about it and you think a world class goalie like that, the best in the world. When you see that. It’s not what you wanna see as the other team. When he’s hot like that and pucks are hitting him, you could just tell he was gonna be the difference maker.”

Red Wings’ Rasmussen Goes Down

Forward Michael Rasmussen who has been quite the difference maker for Detroit took a puck to his inner knee area midway through the first period. Ras’ went back to the locker room immediately after the injury. While this is not the player you hope to lose for any stretch of time. Jakub Vrana was healthy scratched tonight and could slot in and showcase what he can bring to this playoff push. Not to mention Lucas Raymond is set to make his return against Ottawa.

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