Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) – In a matchup of the NHL’s highest-scoring
teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning delivered a win.
Tyler Johnson scored two third-period goals, including the game-winner as the
Lightning ended their four-game road losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the
Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov also scored and Andrei
Vasilevskiy made 33 saves in the win.
Dallas erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 but never led in its second straight
loss. Kari Lehtonen allowed four goals on 28 shots.
The Stars received their offense from their defensemen as John Klingberg, Alex
Goligoski and Trevor Daley lit the lamp in defeat.
Trailing 2-0 with time winding down in the second period, the Stars struck
twice in 15 seconds to even the score. Klingberg netted his 10th goal of the
season when he had the patience to wait for the sliding Brenden Morrow to get
out of the shooting lane before wristing the puck off the post and into the
net.
Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Vernon Fiddler knocked Hedman down in the
neutral zone to help create a three-on-one. He received the return pass from
Shawn Horcoff, and his shot was redirected out of midair by Goligoski and past
Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay restored its lead with a power play goal 12 1/2 minutes into the
final period. Kucherov fired a hard cross-ice pass to Johnson on
the weak side, and Lehtonen could not move right-to-left fast enough to
stop Johnson’s shot.
Dallas, though, was not down for long. Just 74 seconds later, Daley jumped
into the play to create a three-on-two and snapped the puck past Vasilevskiy
to tie the score again.
The end-to-end action continued, and the Lightning went back ahead less than
three minutes later. After a neutral zone takeaway, Johnson deflected Brian
Boyle’s shot for his second goal of the period.
Johnson nearly recorded a hat trick with a great individual effort with the
empty net, but he fanned on the shot. Seconds later, Kucherov was able to put
the puck in the empty net.
Tampa Bay got a fortunate bounce and went up 1-0 just a few minutes into the
game. Mark Barberio’s shot from the blue line skipped toward the net, and
Stamkos jammed it past Lehtonen for his 28th goal of the season.
After killing a penalty, the Lightning scored their second goal on their
second shot of the game 3 1/2 minutes later. Hedman’s initial shot was
blocked, but he followed up with a one-timer that beat a screened Lehtonen.
Game Notes
Tampa Bay’s Cedric Paquette lost his four-game goal streak … Stars captain
Jamie Benn’s assist extended his point streak to five games … The Lightning
are outscoring opponents 64-43 in the third period while the Stars are being
outscored in the third period by a 56-42 margin … Tampa Bay’s J.T. Brown
played in his 100th NHL game.
