Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning Match Player Stats On Mar 05, 2020

Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy posted his third shutout of the season, Victor Hedman tallied twice and the Lightning earned a season-series sweep of the visiting Montreal Canadiens in a 4-0 win on Thursday night.

Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots to earn his 21st career shutout, adding to his franchise record. Hedman scored at even strength and on the power play.

Nikita Kucherov recorded a goal and an assist -- giving him points in 20 of his past 21 games -- and Alex Killorn notched his career-high 25th goal. Kevin Shattenkirk produced his 300th career assist.

Montreal was blanked for the first time this season while falling for the third time in five games.

The Lightning, who won for the second time in three games, went 4-0-0 against the Canadiens this season. They last swept the season series from Montreal in 2014-15 with a 5-0-0 mark before beating the Canadiens in a six-game playoff series that spring.

Tampa Bay also beat the Canadiens for the ninth time in 10 games overall and the sixth consecutive time on home ice, where Tampa Bay is 22-10-2 this season. The Lightning closed their season-high homestand with a 2-3-0 mark.

Montreal goalie Carey Price played for the 13th time in the past 14 games and stopped 19 of 23 shots. The Canadiens scratched their top two goal-scorers -- Tomas Tatar (upper body) and Brendan Gallagher (illness).

Hedman found the net on the Lightning's first shot. The defenseman took a pass from Kucherov and buried his 10th goal from the slot, slipping the shot between Price's pads just 49 seconds in.

The tally marked the seventh consecutive season the 29-year-old has scored double figures in goals.

Anthony Cirelli started a two-on-one rush by making a strong defensive play to chip the puck off the boards and out into the neutral zone, and Killorn finished the odd-man break by wiring a shot for a 2-0 lead at 12:40 of the opening period.

Kucherov grabbed his second point when he swatted in a pass from Pat Maroon as the second period was winding down. His team-leading 32nd put the home side ahead 3-0 with 65 seconds remaining before the second intermission.

After the Canadiens' Ben Chiarot earned a roughing penalty to end the frame, a heated fight broke out between defensemen Shea Weber of Montreal and Mikhail Sergachev of Tampa Bay, with Sergachev -- a 2016 first-round pick by the Canadiens -- taking down Weber.

Hedman scored the final goal on the man advantage at 18:57 of the third.

--Field Level Media