Bolts by the Bay
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Tampa Bay Lightning honor Vincent Lecavalier with win

By Lane Fahey

TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 10: Vincent Lecavalier speaks during the ceremony to retire his
TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 10: Vincent Lecavalier speaks during the ceremony to retire his /
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The Tampa Bay Lightning stand atop the standings with a home win against the Los Angeles Kings.

With the ceremony of Vinny Lecavalier’s jersey retirement at a close, the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Los Angeles Kings in a match between two of Lecavalier’s former teams.

Right off the bat, captain Steven Stamkos scores a minute into the game, tallying his 21st goal of the season. Kings forward Jonny Brodzinski comes right back to tie the game at one.

Halfway through the first, Killorn sits in the penalty box for interference. With half of the penalty in the books, Kings forward Anze Kopitar looks to score after his shot is blocked. However, Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy saves the puck with a behind-the-back glove save, that will be in contention for one of the best saves of the season.

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Vasilevskiy and the penalty kill held off the Kings, and Killorn scores right out of the box off a breakaway. Stamkos clears the puck in the defensive zone right to Killorn, who scores Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper.

Cedric Paquette scores his second of the season early on in the second to put the Bolts up by two. Nikita Kucherov scores his team-leading 29th of the season on the power play and solidifies the lead against the Kings. The power play was due to a five minute major against Dustin Brown for kneeing defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Brown also receives a 10-minute game misconduct.

Both Kyle Clifford and Christian Folin score in the third period but it is not enough for the Kings to tie it up. Vasilevskiy makes a quick save off of Drew Doughty’s shot with less than a second left to confirm another Bolts win. The Lightning snaps the King’s three-game winning streak.

Next: Stamkos: "We need to take a look in the mirror"

The Lightning are on the road to play a back-to-back starting tonight. First, they will play against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and then play the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

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