Tampa Bay pulls away for home win
Dallas was coming off lopsided road defeat vs. surging Panthers
TAMPA — The Lightning knew they would see a motivated Stars team on Saturday night at Amalie Arena following Dallas’ 7-1 blowout loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday.
Dallas, which entered on a six-game road losing streak, put up a fight, but it wasn’t enough to get past Tampa Bay, which won its third straight with a 3-1 victory over the Stars.
The first 14 minutes of the game were quiet, but the last six minutes of the first period amplified with a pair of goals.
Dallas’ Esa Lindell opened the scoring with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that slipped past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for a 1-0 lead.
But a Stars penalty by Ryan Suter — cross-checking with 2:02 remaining — was enough to give the Lightning a chance to tie.
With 14 seconds remaining in the period, Victor Hedman took a shot from the point that hit the boards and rebounded just outside of the crease. Nikita Kucherov collected the rebound and found Brayden Point at the bottom of the slot, and Point sent a quick shot past goaltender Anton Khudobin to tie it.
It was Point’s 15th goal of the season, tying Ondrej Palat for the second most on the team behind Steven Stamkos (18).
The Lightning’s defense and puck possession kept Dallas away from the net for much of the scoreless second period, limiting the Stars to just two shots on goal in 20 minutes to Tampa Bay’s nine.
Despite starting off the third period with a two-minute power play, the Lightning couldn’t get their offense moving in the right direction until about halfway through the period.
Kucherov grabbed the puck from the half-wall and sent a long stretch pass up the ice to Ross Colton, who skated straight down the slot toward Khudobin.
Colton flicked the puck under the bar for the Lightning’s first lead of the game. It was Colton’s fifth goal of the season.
Alex Killorn added an empty-netter with 40 seconds left for the final margin.
All-Star status: Hedman and Vasilevskiy were excited to receive their latest invitations to the All-Star Game this past week. But they’ll be even happier if Stamkos is able to join them.
Stamkos, whose 45 points this season were sixth best in the NHL entering Saturday’s games, was not one of the 10 players chosen by the NHL Hockey Operations Department to represent the Atlantic Division in the event Feb. 4-5 in Las Vegas. But he can be voted in by fans for the final spot on the Atlantic team through the league’s “Last Men In” process.
One player from each team in the division is on that ballot. Each division will have a Last Men In selection. Voting is at nhl.com and the NHL app through 11:59 p.m. Monday.
“A great experience, a great city,” said Vasilevskiy, an All-Star for the fourth straight time. “It’s the perfect city for the All-Star Game. Just looking forward to it, me and Victor, and hope ‘Stammer’ will join us soon. A great experience to meet with all the best players around the league and just have fun together.”
Eleven players from each division will compete in a 3-on-3 tournament of three 20-minute games. The two Eastern Conference divisions and two Western Conference divisions meet, with the winners to play in the final. This year’s event seems like something of an afterthought. No game was held last season due to the pandemic-abbreviated schedule.
This season, the top players were looking forward to participating in the Olympics before mass postponements forced games to be made up over the three-week break in February originally set aside to allow players to play in Beijing. Players still are waiting for a new schedule so they know when games will be made up during that stretch and
when they will get time off. The Lightning have 3 games to make up; most teams have more.
“[The All-Star Game] will be a good experience,” said Hedman, a 4-time All-Star pick. “With everything going on, you weren’t sure if there was going to be one. It’s something I’m looking forward to, going there with ‘Vasy’ and hopefully Stammer, too.”