Since returning to the United States after being swept in the NHL’s Global Series, the Dallas Stars have found their game and will look to add another win when they face the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
Dallas is 5-4 in November but has won five of its last seven following consecutive losses to the defending champion Florida Panthers in Finland to start the month.
On Wednesday, Dallas’ offensive attack unleashed five goals on the visiting San Jose Sharks in a 5-2 victory. The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period but coach Pete DeBoer’s bunch scored twice in the second and twice again in the third for its fourth win in the last five contests.
“We all felt good,” said Wyatt Johnston, one of five different Stars to find the net in the win. “It’s important for everyone to contribute and help chip in obviously.”
Dallas lost defenseman Nils Lundkvist to injury early in the second period but held strong for the win.
“The nice thing is we have four veteran defensemen (back there) … there was no panic,” DeBoer said of Esa Lindell, Matt Dumba, Miro Heiskanen and Ilya Lyubushkin.
The Stars have won just four of the past 14 matchups between the clubs (4-8-2) since the Lightning beat Dallas in the Stanley Cup Final in the COVID-19 impacted 2019-20 season.
Tampa Bay faced Columbus in its last game on Thursday. Unlike Dallas, the Lightning couldn’t get past one of the worst teams in their conference.
Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel and former Columbus forward Cam Atkinson notched goals in the first 12 minutes to build a 3-1 lead after the first period.
The Blue Jackets rallied for four goals in the second period to the Lightning’s two, and the teams traded goals in the third to finish 6-6 after regulation. Zach Werenski tallied a career-high five points, capped off by the overtime game-winner from the high slot.
Tampa Bay’s 7-6 loss to Columbus, tied for last in the Metropolitan Division entering Friday’s action, was tough to take after rallying for a 3-2 overtime win in Pittsburgh to open the two-game road trip.
Nikita Kucherov (900th career point), Atkinson (first Lightning goal, 250th career) and rookie Gage Goncalves (first NHL point) did manage to reach milestones in the point-earning loss, but the setback prevented a season-high four-game winning streak and left Jon Cooper wondering about the group’s will to win in Ohio’s capital.
“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, âThis 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 match and said the Mississauga, Ontario, native will be reevaluated in Florida.
A 13-point producer through 17 games, the 29-year-old Paul has set a pace for the best offensive season of his career.
