Dallas Stars get struck by Lightning in the shootout tonight

The Dallas Stars hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning at the American Airlines Center tonight. The Stars looked to push their home win streak to nine games. However, when you have Andrei Vasilevskiy on the other side of the ice to score against, things can get tricky. It took the Stars until the second period to finally get a puck past him. However, the Stars didn't do enough in the third period to get the win tonight. The Lightning went on to win 3-2 at the AAC tonight in a shootout. The home win streak gets snapped at eight wins.

I don't know what it is with the Stars when they take on the Lightning. It's like ever since the Stars played them in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Lightning have their number. Of the four home games this homestand, I knew Tampa Bay would be the most challenging because of their franchise goaltender. All the Stars can do now is prepare for Saturday afternoon. Here are the four takeaways from the game tonight against the Lightning.

Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: 4. Bichsel swinging at people

Someone ticked off the Swedish Hulk tonight. Bichsel was ready to tear everyone's head off tonight. In the final minutes of the first period, he started to get feisty and physical. Bichsel did his job tonight by toying with the Lightning. I wish the rest of the Stars got as emotional and physical as Bichsel. It felt like the Stars knew they would lose after going down 1-0 to the Lightning. It's time to step up and defend home ice with some passion.

Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: 3. Casey DeSmith

Casey DeSmith played brilliantly despite picking up the loss tonight. He was why the Stars even had a chance to come back and beat the Lightning tonight. I think he deserves to redeem himself on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers. It would give Oettinger another game off to rest and refocus. DeSmith has been a good backup goaltender for the Stars this season with his quick mobility to make saves. People thought they would miss Scott Wedgewood, but DeSmith has silenced those fans.

Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: 3. Clearing the zone

The Stars need to work on clearing the zone tomorrow at practice. Starcastic Remarks pointed this out in the second period. The Stars tend to low-flip the puck out of the zone instead of controlling it, and they had issues clearing the zone all night because of it. They must control the puck out of the zone and fire it down the rink when it won't be icing. Either that or learn to flip the puck higher so the opponent can't knock it out of the air.

Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: 2. Fourth line to the rescue

The one thing that drives me crazy is that the Stars rely on the fourth line to produce offense to begin games. The bottom line prevented the Stars from being shut out tonight against the Lightning. With all the money spent on the lines above, it would be nice to see them scoring the game's first goal for Dallas. It was nice to see Oskar Back score for the first time in a while, but I would like to see players like Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz score a couple.

Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: 1. Legalize the Mush Push

Marchment's goal to tie the game gave the Stars hope entering the third period. If he ever scores another goal like that, it will be called the "Mush Push." It stinks that Benn didn't get his 400th career goal from the scramble for the puck. However, I don't think Benn cared as long as the game was tied entering the third period. The second period was way better than the first in terms of energy and physicality. The Stars will have an early matinee on Saturday for Kid's Day against the Flyers.

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