Tampa Bay Lightning defeat San Jose Sharks 4-1

The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their 14 game point streak against the San Jose Sharks with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night in Tampa. The Lightning now improve to 31-13-4 on the season and are still in 1st place of the Atlantic Division.

The Lightning faced a little adversity late in the 1st period of this game with Tyler Toffoli getting the scoring started on his 14th of the season. Toffolis 14th goal of the season originally was a wrap around shot from William Eklund off the face off with 5:23 remaining in the 1st period of the game. The Lightning were quick with a response from Brandon Hagel. Brandon Hagel tallied his 24th goal of the season with 4:50 remaining in the opening period of this game.

The Sharks won the phases of the 1st period of this game against the Lightning. The Sharks out shot the Lightning 8-6 , led in the face off circle , and laid the body more 11-4 through the 1st period. Those phases are very important in a hockey game , because it sets the momentum for a team.

1st period stats via realapp

The Lightning completely flipped a switch to begin the 2nd period of this game by adding a couple helpers. Brandon Hagel gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead with 18:11 remaining in the 2nd period of this game. Hagel would score his second goal of the game and his 25th of the season on a beautiful pass from Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli. Kucherov would get his 2nd point of the game . The Lightning would add another goal from Jake Guentzel. Jake. Guentzel would score his 22nd goal of the season on a corner pass from Dominic James. However this goal doesn’t happen without a great effort from Gage Goncalves who took a hit to make the play.

2nd period stats of tonight’s game via realapp

The Lightning entered the 3rd period with a 3-1 lead in this game and added another goal late to secure the win against the Sharks. Brandon Hagel would secure the Hat trick on an empty net goal with 2:19 remaining in the game. Hagel would add his 26th goal of the season on a 2 on 0 transition with Anthony Cirelli . The Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1.

The 3 stars of tonight’s game would have to be the following : Brandon Hagel who had 3 goals , Nikita Kucherov who had 3 assists , and Jake Guentzel who had a goal and an assist. Andrei Vasilevskiy was impressive tonight stopping 22 out 23 shots faced giving him a .957 save percentage.

The Lightning will now face Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Friday January 23rd at 6:00 pm.