The Lightning have had Dallas’ number all season, but skating miscues bit them on Thursday night and lead to a Stars victory over the Bolts for the first time this season. Yanni Gourde extended his goal scoring streak, but the numerous turnovers caused by the Bolts made it null and void. What started off as another promising game ended up being a game Tampa Bay would like to forget.
Silent opening period
At the start of the first period, Dallas looked to get the offense rolling to get some needed momentum. Tampa Bay looked to continue their dominance over the Stars. Neither team was able to get anything going early on, but the Stars looked like the better team in the first period. The Lightning looked sluggish with skating at times but Jake Oettinger remained calm preventing Tampa Bay from scoring on the few chances they had. The Bolts defense did a solid job taming the constant pressure from the Stars offense as the period remained scoreless.
Bolts open up the scoring
Dallas started the period with the same constant pressure from the first period. Andrei Vasilevskiy remained poised in net to prevent the Stars from scoring. Despite the strong start by Dallas, it was the Bolts who opened up the scoring. Yanni Gourde remained red hot as he extended his goal streak to 5 games with a wide open wirster. Minutes later, Alex Killorn capitalized on a rebound opportunity that easily went past Oettinger. The Lightning then coughed up a penalty, but never gave Dallas a good opportunity on the man advantage. The Stars, however, finally found an answer to Vasilevskiy not too long after the penalty expired. Miro Heiskanen put Dallas on the board with a nifty backhander to cut the Lightning lead to 1. Prior to the period ending, Luke Schenn found himself on the wrong end of a scuffle with Jamie Oleksiak.
Stars cut the lead late
Oleksiak got the better of Schenn, but teammates will appreciate Schenn for sticking up for the the team and trying to ignite a spark. Momentum shifted in the period when Anthony Cirelli was called for high sticking. Cirelli’s penalty would be a costly one as Dallas would tie up the game. Vasilevskiy had no chance on the Joe Pavelski shot and the game was tied at 2. Before the period ended, the Stars took advantage of an atrocious clearing attempt by the Lightning. Jason Robertson took full advantage of the turnover and gave Dallas the 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.
Lightning fall apart
The 3rd period started nearly identical to the 1st period. Dallas continued to keep the pressure going and looked like the better team throughout the game. After a mostly quiet period from the Bolts, the offense eventually broke through the Stars defense. After a massive pileup in front of the net, Ondrej Palat was able to sneak the puck past Oettinger and tie the game at 3. Just when it looked like the game would go into overtime, Roope Hintz steamrolled his way up the ice and effortlessly zipped the puck past the entire defense for the go-ahead goal. The Stars went on to win the game 4-3, snapping a 5 game Lightning win streak and Vasilevskiy’s team record 12 game win streak.
Three stars of the game
1st Star: Roope Hintz – 1 goal and 2 assists
2nd Star: Joe Pavelski – 1 ppg and 2 assists
3rd Star: Jason Robertson – 1 goal 1 assist
For complete coverage of the Lightning, follow all our content on TheScrumSports.com and Youtube
