Since returning to the U.S. after being swept in the NHL’s Global Series, the Dallas Stars have found their rhythm and will try to add another victory when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
Dallas has a 5-4 record in November but has won five of its last seven games, following two straight losses to the defending champion Florida Panthers in Finland to start the month.
On Wednesday, Dallas scored five goals in a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, but Coach Pete DeBoer’s team scored twice in the second and twice more in the third to claim their fourth win in the last five games.
“We all felt good,” said Wyatt Johnston, one of five different Stars players to score in the win. “It’s important for everyone to contribute and help chip in obviously.”
Dallas lost defenseman Nils Lundkvist to an injury early in the second period but held strong to secure the win.
“The nice thing is we have four veteran defensemen (back there)… there was no panic,” said DeBoer, referring to Esa Lindell, Matt Dumba, Miro Heiskanen, and Ilya Lyubushkin.
The Stars have won just four of the past 14 matchups with the Lightning (4-8-2) since Tampa Bay defeated Dallas in the Stanley Cup Final during the COVID-19-impacted 2019-20 season.
Tampa Bay’s last game was Thursday against Columbus. Unlike Dallas, the Lightning couldn’t defeat one of the weakest teams in their conference.
Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, and former Columbus forward Cam Atkinson scored in the first 12 minutes to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead after the first period.
However, the Blue Jackets came back with four goals in the second period, while the Lightning scored two. The teams traded goals in the third, and the game ended 6-6 after regulation. Zach Werenski earned a career-high five points, finishing with the overtime game-winner from the high slot.
Tampa Bay’s 7-6 loss to Columbus, who was tied for last in the Metropolitan Division as of Friday, was hard to take after the Lightning won 3-2 in overtime in Pittsburgh to start the road trip.
Nikita Kucherov (900th career point), Atkinson (first Lightning goal, 250th career), and rookie Gage Goncalves (first NHL point) reached milestones in the loss, but the defeat ended their hopes of a season-high four-game winning streak and left Coach Jon Cooper questioning his team’s effort.
“We played the game in quicksand,” Cooper said. “There’s a recipe for what we need to do and (Thursday), we didn’t follow it. Our mind wasn’t in it today for whatever reason.
“Give a ton of credit to Columbus. They didn’t care they were down 3-0. They were like, ‘This is a 60-minute game. We’ll see what we can do to win this.’ Clearly, we didn’t have that same mindset and, in the end, probably the right team won.”
Cooper scratched forward Nick Paul (undisclosed injury) before the game and said the Mississauga, Ontario, native will be reevaluated in Florida.
Paul, who has 13 points in 17 games, is on pace for the best offensive season of his career.
