Maroon, Vasilevskiy lead Tampa Bay to 10th straight victory

Pat Maroon scored the game's only goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning tied a club record with their 10th straight win, 1-0 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night.

The Lightning hasn’t lost since Dec. 21 at Washington, and have outscored opponents 43-17 during their streak. Tampa Bay has tallied 12 unanswered goals, two short of matching a team mark.

They will look to set a club record for consecutive victories on Sunday night at New Jersey.

Vasileskiy earned his second straight shutout and the 20th of his career. He has been in goal for eight of the victories during the streak. The Lightning defence was stout in front of their netminder, and Vasileskiy was rarely tested. His best save came five minutes into the third period when he stopped Travis Sanheim’s one-timer from close range with a right pad save.

The Flyers saw their five-game home winning streak halted. Philadelphia entered an NHL-best 14-2-4 at home.

Maroon opened the scoring with 12:33 left in the second period with a fluky goal. Anthony Cirelli sent a high backhander into the zone from near centre ice. Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen batted it out of the air, but Maroon blocked the puck with two hands. It landed at his feet and he shot past Carter Hart’s glove side for his sixth of the season and first goal in 24 games.

Maroon later left the game after he was hooked by Kevin Hayes and went barreling into the backboards two minutes into the third period. He immediately grabbed his right shoulder and headed to the bench before going to the locker room.

The Flyers played a strong first period, killing off three penalties, including a four-minute double-minor for high sticking against the NHL’s second-best power-play unit. But Philadelphia didn’t generate any high-quality chances in either of the first two periods against Tampa Bay.

NOTES: Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat (left leg) didn’t play after being hurt in the third period of Thursday’s 4-0 win over Arizona, and D Ryan McDonagh (head) missed his fourth consecutive contest. McDonagh won’t play tomorrow at New Jersey and will be re-evaluated after that contest. … The Lightning is 4-3-1 in the first game of a back-to-back. … This was the first meeting between the clubs. They will meet twice more, on Feb. 15 and March 12 in Tampa Bay. … Philadelphia F Oskar Lindblom received a standing ovation when he was shown on the big screen in the first period. Lindblom is being treated for Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.