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Lightning strike Stars 6-1 behind four points from Stamkos

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Heading into the third and final game of this east coast stint, the Dallas Stars found themselves facing their stiffest competition of the trip, and, perhaps, of the year. The Tampa Bay Lightning (14-2-2) have been playing like the best team in the NHL and show no signs of slowing down any time soon. The most notable matchup of the evening was Stars goaltender Ben Bishop facing his former team of five years with whom he made a Stanley Cup run.

Unfortunately for the Stars, the road trip ended with a thud and a lot more questions than answers. Dallas ended up yielding six goals, and Bishop (.778 SV%) had another night to forget.

Bishop made a couple of early saves off of shots from the slot, and the Stars sent two shots toward former Bishop understudy Andrei Vasilevskiy. Unexpectedly, Dan Hamhuis dropped his gloves with Vladislav Namestnikov and was content to keep him at arm’s length and play defense. The bout ended with Hamhuis landing a strategic punch that knocked Namestnikov’s helmet off. The deadly duo of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov nearly diffused any good vibes the Stars were feeling by creating a high quality shot from the slot, but Bishop came to play.

The Lightning’s top line was peppering Bishop, and the Stars didn’t have a line to counter as their Benn-Seguin-Radulov line has been broken up as of late.

Alexander Radulov took issue with a dangerous hit on his teammate, Mattias Janmark, and cross-checked the offender in the back, drawing a minor penalty. On the penalty kill, the Stars stayed patient, broke up zone entries, and used Bishop as a third defenseman to clear the zone. The Stars couldn’t hang on to the puck much in the first period, and the Lightning were showing why they have the record they do. Bishop stayed perfect even though his team was outshot 13-6. The period didn’t end on a positive note as Greg Pateryn turned the puck over in his own zone, then committed a hooking minor to break up the play.

The penalty proved to be costly. Tampa Bay scored within a minute of the second period as Stamkos fired a one-timer from the left circle, his first of two goals on the night. Stamkos finished with four total points. It felt like only a matter of time seeing that Tampa Bay’s best players were stellar up to that point.

On the first shift after the goal, the Stars earned it back by making a good defensive play in their zone. Radek Faksa grabbed the puck and headed up ice unhindered. He beat Vasilevskiy glove side with a wrist shot. There was no time to celebrate, and Mikhail Sergachev fired a shot from the point off of a long rebound that found the back of the net to put the Lightning back up by one.

The Stars then were able to draw two successive penalties. On the first power play, they created some chances but couldn’t crack Vasilevskiy. On the second, the Stars gave up their first shorthanded goal against of the season on an embarrassing sequence of events. Bishop passed to John Klingberg behind the net, and Klingberg mishandled the exchange. Brayden Point sneaked in the steal the puck and put it in the net while Bishop was still recovering.

Dallas spent a little time with a two man advantage and hit a post on a deflection from Jason Spezza. On the ensuing 5-on-4, they sent a lot of rubber Vasilevskiy’s way, but it only seemed to make him better. It was a second period to forget for the Stars and they had some real soul searching to do if they were going to make this a game against a contender.

The Stars didn’t muster any kind of competitive spirit in the third period, and the Lightning started to smell blood in the water. Jamie Oleksiak and Pateryn couldn’t clear their zone, and Stamkos scored his second goal of the game from in close to the net to seemingly put it all away. No one told the Lightning that the game was over.

After Bishop broke up a 2-on-1, the Lightning forced another turnover and reset their offense. Stamkos stayed at the front of the net and drew the attention of the Dallas defense while Jake Dotchin had all day to fire from the left circle and score. Kucherov decided he wanted to stay in the lead in goals scored in the NHL and scored off of some excellent tic-tac-toe passing from Tampa Bay.

So here the Stars sit with a .500 record searching for answers. There is still a ton of hockey to be played, but things need to be turned around quickly before the Stars can even think about being in the conversation with contenders such as the Lightning.

The Goals

Second Period

:47 Steven Stamkos scored on the power play from one of his favorite spots on the ice–left circle–on a one-timer. Stars 0, Lightning 1

3:34 Radek Faksa had a breakaway goal to answer the Stamkos goal after some hard work in the defensive zone. He beat Vaskilevskiy glove side to tie the game up. Stars 1, Lightning 1

4:51 Mikhail Sergachev fired from the point and found the back of the net. Ben Bishop couldn’t track the puck, and the Lightning went up by one. Stars 1, Lightning 2

11:20 Brayden Point scored a shorthanded goal after stealing the puck from John Klingberg, who was attempting to gather it in from his goalie. Stars 1, Lightning 3

Third Period

3:57 After several unsuccessful clearing attempts by the Stars, Steven Stamkos scored his second goal of the game from in tight to put his team up by three. Stars 1, Lightning 4

8:18 The Stars turned the puck over again, and Jake Dotchin made them pay from the left circle, beating a screened Ben Bishop. Stars 1, Lightning 5

13:52 The Lightning continued to pile on, and Kucherov scored a tap-in goal off of a tic-tac-toe play. Stars 1, Lightning 6

Lightning lineup (11 forwards, 7 defensemen)
Vladislav Namestnikov — Steven Stamkos — Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej  Palat — Brayden Point — Yanni Gourde
Alex Killorn — Tyler Johnson
Chris Kunitz — J.T. Brown — Ryan Callahan

Victor Hedman — Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev — Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn — Dan Girardi
Andrej Sustr

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Peter Budaj

Scratched: Gabriel Dumont, Slater Koekkoek

Injured: Cedric Paquette (upper body)

Stars lineup
Mattias Janmark — Jamie Benn — Alexander Radulov
Gemel Smith — Tyler Seguin — Devin Shore
Remi Elie — Martin Hanzal — Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak — Stephen Johns

Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen

Scratched: Brett Ritchie

Injured: Marc Methot (lower body)

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