TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves, Steven Stamkos scored his 21st goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Tampa Bay entered the All-Star break by winning eight of its last nine games.
Jonathan Bernier stopped 28 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have lost nine of 10 (1-7-2). Toronto has been outscored 31-11 during that stretch.
Stamkos put the Lightning up 1-0 at 4:38 of the first with a shot from the left circle during a power play. The Tampa Bay captain can become a free agent July 1 and there has been ongoing speculation about the possibility of the Toronto area native joining the Maple Leafs next season.
Bernier kept the Maple Leafs close with several nice saves, including one on Alex Killorn’s power-play breakaway, as Toronto was outshot 13-0 during the game’s first 12 1/2 minutes, and 17-6 in the first period
Toronto had the final five shots of the first, and Byron Froese hit the crossbar in the final minute.
Vasilevskiy turned aside a breakaway shot by Michael Grabner early in the second. Toronto had seven of the first nine shots during the opening eight minutes of the second.
After Morgan Rielly had a shot go off the crossbar 2 minutes into the third, Dion Phaneuf’s in-close power-play shot four minutes later was stopped by Vasilevskiy.
It was Vasilevskiy’s first shutout this season and second overall. He got the start in place of Ben Bishop, who will take part in this weekend’s All-Star game.
NOTES: Toronto is 0-7-6 in Atlantic Division games this season. ... Stamkos stopped a five-game goal drought. ... Stamkos has 16 goals and 32 points in 27 games against Toronto. .. Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov had his eight-game point streak end.
