Dallas Stars Shock The Bolts In Tampa Bay

The Dallas Stars began their four game road trip on Thursday night at the Amalie Arena, facing off with the defending Eastern Conference Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stars battled all game long, and ended up on top by a score of 5-3.

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Game Recap

Period 1

These two teams were the highest scoring squads in the entire league last season, and displayed it instantaneously.

Right out of the tunnel, the Lightning looked to be all over the Dallas Stars.

Before Dallas could even get a solid possession on the Tampa Bay side of the ice, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos scored just 2:24 into the game, capturing an early lead for the home team.

But the momentum was short-lived, as the Stars bounced right back. Tyler Seguin scored his first goal of the season, just before the half-way point of the first period.

With 5:46 left in the opening period, the captain Jamie Benn put the puck past Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, set-up by a wonderful pass from Jason Spezza.

From there, the Stars held on, heading into the first intermission with a one goal lead.

During the first period, the Lightning had two power plays, but failed to even get a shot on goal off on either of the man-advantages, thanks to exceptional defending from the Stars.

Period 2

Like the Lightning did to start the game, the Dallas Stars came out of the break dominating possession. The Lightning failed to record a shot on goal for the first seven minutes of the period.

Meanwhile, the Stars rookie phenom Mattias Janmark continued his point streak to four games by setting up a Cody Eakin goal with 10:26 left in the period.

A scary moment occurred with 4:04 left in the second, as Curtis McKenzie was hit face-first into the boards at middle ice. McKenzie, who was just called up Wednesday, was helped off the ice and remained out for the rest of the game.

Nikita Nesterov, the man who made the hit, was given a game misconduct.

On the five-minute power play, Dallas Stars defenseman Jason Demers slapped home his first goal of the year from the blue line to increase the Stars lead to 4-1.

Kari Lehtonen, after not being tested for the early part of the period, was very active in the final minutes, but held his ground. Despite Tampa Bay out-shooting the Stars 15-8 in the second, Kari kept the Stars lead at 4-1.

Period 3

The Tampa Bay Lightning came out of the intermission angry.

Seven minutes into the final period, Vladislav Namestnikov trimmed the Stars lead to 4-2.

Just over a minute later, Stamkos scored his second of the game and fourth of the season, cutting the Dallas lead to just one, with 11:16 remaining in the game.

But just as Tampa Bay looked to be rolling, Jason Spezza squeezed one past Bishop to put the Stars back up by two with 9:31 left in the game, his sixth point of the young season.

From there, the Stars held on to win 5-3, and claimed their third win of the season in just their fourth game.

Thoughts

The Dallas penalty kill and power play were both extraordinary in tonight’s game. The penalty killed didn’t even allow a Lightning shot on goal in two penalty kills, and the power play scored two out of three chances.

If the Stars can continue to have success in both of those categories, they are in for some more success in the near future.

Mattias Janmark and Ales Hemsky combined for three points in tonight’s game, and both have tallied at least one point in each of the Dallas Stars’ four games thus far.

Last, but certainly not least, Kari Lehtonen was above and beyond between the pipes. He recorded 30 saves, and many of those were on breakaways. Kari has played well in both games in the crease this season, and it will be interesting who Lindy Ruff decides to start in net next game.

After a hard-fought win, the Stars head to Sunrise, Florida next, clashing with the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, where Dallas looks to continue their two-game winning streak.

The Stars needed a hot start to the road trip. That’s exactly what they got tonight.

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