Lightning hold off Stars to even Stanley Cup Final
Nikita Kucherov had the primary assists on two power-play goals for Tampa Bay after taking some early hits, and the Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night.
Tampa Bay had failed to score on its previous 14 chances with the man advantage, since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finale, until the Kucherov-assisted goals.
Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat had the powerplay goals, with Victor Hedman picking up the secondary assist on each one. Kevin Shattenkirk’s goal put Tampa Bay up 3-0 after the first period.
Joe Pavelski and Mattias Janmark scored for Dallas. OILERS’ DRAISAITL IS MVP >> The Stanley Cup Final is in Edmonton, and Oilers star Leon Draisaitl made history Monday night.
Only it had more to do with his home country than his home arena.
Draisaitl became the first German player to win the Hart Trophy as MVP after leading the league in scoring with 110 points in 71 games. He also won the Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player as voted by peers.
Draisaitl joins former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki as the only German players to earn MVP honors in one of the four major North American professional sports leagues.
“Dirk was obviously someone that I look up to, someone that I admire: the way he presents himself and the way he really has achieved everything that there is to achieve for a professional athlete in North America,” Draisaitl said. “He’s always been someone that I look up and it’s a big honor for me to be in that conversation with him.”
Draisaitl finished ahead of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon and New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. He scored 43 goals, and his 67 assists were a career high despite the regular season being cut short.
Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender, Nashville’s Roman Josi got the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman, and Colorado’s Cale Makar won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.
Draisaitl is the second Oilers player to win the Hart in the past four years following Connor McDavid, who is widely considered the best hockey player in the world. Draisaitl played with and without McDavid this season and produced even more.
“I think Connor and I have a very healthy, great, competitive relationship and we just try and make each other better every day,” Draisaitl said.
Edmonton was eliminated in the qualifying round of the expanded 24team playoffs despite playing games in its — empty, of course — home rink.