After clinching a playoff spot in the previous game, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked to remain dominate over the Dallas Stars. Hoping to extend their win streak to 4 games, the Bolts offense continued to produce. The defense was ready to stop the Stars offense while Andrei Vasilevskiy remained stellar in net.
Gaining momentum
In the first period, the Lightning took control of the game early on and never gave it back. The Stars played desperate for a majority of the period and could not get anything going. Tampa Bay received the first power play of the game, but was unable to score on the man advantage. However, the Bolts later on opened up the scoring and Ondrej Palat remained red hot. Palat took advantage of a Stars turnover and easily ripped the puck past Jake Oettinger for the goal. The remainder of the period remained scoreless.
Controlled game
The Stars had the ice tilted for most of the second period, however, they could not generate any scoring chances. Vasilevskiy had to bail out the defense a few times in the period. For the most part, though, the Lightning defense contained the rushes from the Stars offense. The Lightning played more of a tight and controlled game for the second period while Dallas tried to steal momentum. Just like the tail-end of the first period, neither team was able to score and both sides looked to find a spark in the final period of play.
Short-handed beauty
Unlike the second period, the Lightning once again regained control of the game. Dallas tried to get their offense rolling, but still could not answer Vasilevskiy or the Bolts defense. For the first half of the period, Oettinger did a solid job containing the Bolts offense, and the Stars then received another power play opportunity. Luke Schenn tripped Jamie Oleksiak giving the Stars an opportunity to tie up the game. During the Stars power play, Blake Coleman took advantage of a short-handed opportunity and was awarded a penalty shot as he was tripped while firing the puck on Oettinger. Coleman’s slick shot was no match for the Stars netminder and the Bolts took a 2-0 lead. From this point on, Dallas tried everything they could to try and cut the lead. With 3 minutes to go, the Stars pulled their goalie and looked to find an answer with an extra attacker on. However, Brayden Point sealed the victory with an empty net goal giving the Lightning a 3-0 victory.
Penalty shot on the penalty kill? We'll take it! pic.twitter.com/6in2x5ihw9
— x – Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) April 30, 2021
Three stars of the game
1st Star: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Stopped all 20 shots faced for the shutout
2nd Star: Ondrej Palat – 1 goal (4 game point streak)
3rd Star: Blake Coleman – 1 goal (penalty shot)
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