Kevin Shattenkirk scored in overtime on a controversial power play after a penalty call against the Stars' Jamie Benn and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Stars 5-4 Friday night to take a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final .
With Game 5 Saturday night, Tampa Bay is potentially 24 hours away from its second championship in franchise history. The Lightning won the Cup in 2004, but this core has so far been unable to get over the hump despite being one of the best teams in the NHL for much of the past decade.
The Lightning got the winning power play when Dallas captain Jamie Benn was called for tripping Point on a play where Benn’s skates never made contact with Points' as the referee called it.
The Stars didn’t generate a ton of offense in the first period, but when they did, their shots often found the back of the net. Dallas mustered just three shots on goal in the opening frame but scored twice on Andrei Vasilevskiy.
John Klingberg followed his own rebound after an artsy entrance into the offensive zone and then beat a vulnerable Vasilevskiy. Later in the period, Joe Pavelski finished an odd-man rush with his 11th goal of the postseason, giving the Stars a 2-0 lead. It was the first time since Game 1 that the Stars led the Lightning by two goals.
But Tampa Bay made sure it didn’t last.
Brayden Point scored in the final minute of the first period by zooming past Jason Dickinson in the neutral zone and finishing beautifully around Anton Khudobin. The goal stemmed any momentum the Stars could have carried into the intermission and cut their lead in half.
Point scored again in the second period by battling a puck out of midair past Khudobin on the power play to tie the score.
Every time the Stars appeared ready to squeeze more tightly onto the lead, the Lightning pried open Dallas' grip. Ten minutes after Corey Perry scored — following up a sweet setup by Tyler Seguin on the rush — to give the Stars a 3-2 lead, Yanni Gourde pounced on a power-play ricochet to tie the score at 3.
Dallas returned the favor in the third period.
Five minutes after Alex Killorn gave Tampa Bay its first lead with a turnaround, far-side wrist shot, Pavelski answered with his second goal of the night, this one a bouncing puck that went off Kevin Shattenkirk and into the net.
It was that kind of night in Edmonton — when both teams believed no lead was safe and each side played their part in an entertaining, heart-pounding game.
The chances were there for the Stars to end the game in regulation. Nick Caamano’s backhand was robbed by Vasilevskiy’s left pad in the second period. Joel Kiviranta’s shot sneaked through Vasilevskiy but died in the crease before it was cleared. Alexander Radulov tried to stuff a rebound home with 3:30 left in the third period but was denied by Vasilevskiy.
It was in direct contrast to the Stars' performance in Game 3, when the Lightning’s best players throttled Dallas.
“We’ve got to get our structure back,” interim coach Rick Bowness said before Game 4. “We’ve got to get our mentality back of how we play. Still trying to get our defense a little bit more involved in their zone. The details of our game have to be there for 60 minutes. That’s been lacking. We’re certainly not denying that and it’s up to our players now. We know what we have to do. We need to get prepared to go it.”
It’s been that kind of postseason for the Stars, when the game never feels out of reach.
They erased a three-goal deficit to close out the Calgary Flames in the first round. They responded in the closing minutes of an elimination game against Colorado to tie the score and then win in overtime.
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September 26, 2020 at 11:53AM
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Stars lose overtime heartbreaker in Game 4, Lightning now lead series 3-1 - The Dallas Morning News
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