Sometimes, two teams will play a competitive game for a full 60 minutes to get the results we saw last night. However, this was not the case. The Dallas Stars began a short road trip to Florida last night by taking on a powerful Tampa Bay Lightning offense.
Let’s dive into last night’s one-sided affair, with a surprise ending.
1st Period
Radulov Tips In An Early Power-play Goal
The Bolts found themselves in early penalty trouble in this game, and Dallas would find a way to capitalize.
Good puck movement between Tyler Seguin and John Klingberg began near the blue line. The puck makes it’s way back to Seguin to the right of Andrei Vasilevskiy, and he would get off a quick shot. Alexander Radulov crashed hard towards the front of the net, and deflected the shot. The puck went between the netminder’s legs, and trickled into the net, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.
Sergachev Unleashes the One-Timer
It’s the simple set-ups that can sometimes make all of the difference. For defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, it doesn’t take much either.
The Lightning sustained good pressure on a Power-play of their own to get this play started. Ondrej Palat sent a pass to the point, where Sergachev was. Sergachev would move it to Tyler Johnson on Anton Khudobin’s right. Johnson pushed it gently right back to Sergachev, who launched the rubber missile towards the net. The puck beats Khudobin, and as a result, the game was tied 1-1.
A Beautiful Passing Display Leads to a Deflection by Killorn
Another Tampa Bay power-play, another scoring opportunity for the Lightning, this one coming courtesy of Alex Killorn.
The passing on this play was crisp and fast. Victor Hedman would pass it over to Steven Stamkos. Stamkos would feed it back over to Hedman, who immediately moved it over to Russian sniper Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov let go a hard shot-pass towards the net and Killorn got his stick on it to deflect it in for a 2-1 Bolts lead.
The Lightning would take this lead into the first intermission. The dominated the last 11-12 minutes of the first period. They outshot Dallas 17-8 through the opening frame.
2nd Period
Ondrej Palat Scores on a No-Look Deflection
The Tampa Bay defensemen were a monumental part of their offensive play during this game.
On this play, Kevin Shattenkirk simply holds the zone as the Stars tried to break out and start their own offensive drive. Shattenkirk sent it across to Sergachev, who launches a shot towards the net.
Palat was there in front of Khudobin causing havoc, and the shot went off of him with his back turned to the play. Him simply being there deflected the puck into the net, resulting a 3-1 Lightning lead.
Faksa Snipes and Scores To Keep It Close
The Stars had a tough time generating any offense in the second period, but when they got a chance with just about 2 minutes to go, they capitalized.
Denis Gurianov would start the drive towards the offensive end. He bobbed and weaved through the neutral zone, entered the offensive zone, and gave the puck over to John Klingberg. Klingberg saw Radek Faksa with some room moving with the rush, and gave him a perfect tape-to-tape pass in the slot. Faksa unleashes the shot and beats Vasilevskiy, bringing the game back within one.
This 3-2 game would be taken into the locker room after 40 minutes of play. Shots on net were 31-13, a dominant affair, in favor of the Lightning. Anton Khudobin gave Dallas every chance to stay in this game, making timely saves again and again.
3rd Period
Jason Dickinson Scoops in the Loose Puck to Tie it Up
The Stars continued to struggle offensively, but another opportunity arose, and they would take advantage of it.
Roman Polak got things moving in the Stars defensive end by simply chipping a pass over to Jason Dickinson. Dickinson took the puck to neutral ice and juked around a Bolt player to enter the offensive end. He then passed it over to Andrew Cogliano who got off a quick shot on net. It managed to trickle through Vasilevskiy, and just sat there behind him, and Dickinson, who crashed to the net, was able to tap it in to tie the game at three.
We would go to overtime hockey despite the Stars being heavily outshot 47-17 after the 3rd.
Overtime
Tyler Seguin Seals the Deal for a Texas Sized Comeback
By no means did the Stars earn 2 points in the standings, but courtesy of Anton Khudobin and Tyler Seguin, they would get the points anyway.
After a near miss for the Lightning to end the game with a victory, Alexander Radulov sends the puck up the boards, catching 2 Lightning players behind the play for a 2-on-1 chance. Seguin picked up the puck and had Miro Heiskanen with him. He would take it in pretty close to Vasilevskiy, but he roofs it far side, and the Stars finish the comeback.
Seguin immediately pointed over towards Khudobin to thank him for this victory.
Shots on goal finished at 48-20, but thanks to their Kazakhstani netminder, the Stars find a way to win.
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