(Reuters) – Tampa Bay’s power-play unit finally snapped out of their slumber to help the Lightning secure a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Monday and tie the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Final at one game apiece.
The Lightning, who had gone 0-for-14 on the power play over their past four games, got two goals with the man advantage in Game Two of a best-of-seven championship series being held in Edmonton to limit travel and minimize COVID-19 risk.
“This was an emotional game,” said Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli. “There were ups and some downs. It’s always good to come out with the win here. That’s one, and we have to come out hard next game.”
Three first-period goals over a four-minute span, including power-play tallies from Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat, put Tampa Bay in control early. Kevin Shattenkirk’s goal made it 3-0.
Dallas finally got on the board with five minutes left in the second period when Joe Pavelski tipped in a shot from John Klingberg five seconds after Palat was serving a two-minute slashing penalty.
The Stars had another power-play opportunity before the second intermission and created a flurry of chances but Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside all five shots he faced during the two-minute penalty.
“He’s been huge for us, best player almost every game,” said Palat. “In the first game we didn’t help him much but today he was awesome.”
The Stars pulled to within a goal when Mattias Janmark scored his first of the playoffs early in the third period to set up a tense finish.
Mikhail Sergachev looked to have restored Tampa Bay’s two-goal cushion near the midway mark of the final frame but Dallas coach Rick Bowness challenged the play and a review showed it was clearly offside.
Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots for the Lightning while Dallas netminder Anton Khudobin made 28 saves.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
