Lightning win rematch vs. Stars

Netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for his second straight shut- out and 23rd overall and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 5-0 on Saturday night in the first Stanley Cup rematch of the season.

The teams had four pre- vious scheduled meetings season postponed because of COVID protocols and weather issues in Dallas.

Steven Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay, and Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Pat Maroon also scored for Tampa Bay to extend its winning streak to four games.

Dallas’ Anton Khudobin made 12 saves before being replaced in the third period by Jake Oettinger, who stopped all five shots he faced.

Palat struck three seconds into Tampa Bay’s first power-play chance, stealing the puck from Jason Dickinson down low and roofing a shot over Khudobin for his seventh of the season and fifth on the power play.

Tampa Bay scored three goals in the second period.

Cirelli, back after missing two weeks, beat Khudobin for his seventh career shorthanded goal at 4:06. Point made it 3-0 when he raced up the ice and wristed a shot into the net at 8:17. And Maroon tapped in a pass from Tyler Johnson at 15:12 for Tampa Bay’s second powerplay goal of the game. FLYERS3,SABRES0>> Philadelphia goalie Brian Elliott stopped 23 shots to shut out Buffalo for a second time this season. Sean Couturier had a goal and assist to extend his points streak to five games.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, OILERS 0 >> Goaltender Jack Campbell made 30 saves for his third NHL shutout, Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist and Nhl-leading Toronto won a series opener against Edmonton, which had won five straight.

PREDATORS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1>> Mattias Ekholm scored a pair of second-period goals, and Juuse Saros made 29 saves for Nashville.

CAPITALS5, DEVILS2>> Garnet Hathaway and Daniel Sprong scored in the opening 5:06 for streaking Washington.

FLAMES 6, SENATORS 3 >> Juuso Valimaki, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk scored for Calgary, which ended Ottawa’s three-game win streak.

PENGUINS 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT >> Kris Letang scored his second goal of the game 4:34 into OT, and Pittsburgh won for the sixth time in eight games. New York fell to 6-0-2 at Nassau Coliseum, remaining the NHL’S only team without a regulation loss at home.

HURRICANES 4, PANTHERS 3, SO >> Martin Necas scored the winning goal in a shootout for Carolina.

RED WINGS 5, BLACKHAWKS 3 >> Christian Djoos scored Detroit’s first power-play goal in 15 games in the win.