The Tampa Bay Lightning (44-17-4) defeated their old friend Ben Bishop and the Dallas Stars (36-23-5) 5-4 in overtime on Thursday night in Dallas. It was the fourth consecutive overtime game for the Bolts.
The Lightning had another hot start, as Brayden Point scored just 1:02 in to this game on a play J.T. Miller set up - playing in just his second game since being acquired from the New York Rangers on Monday, Miller got his first assist with his new club. From there Dallas began to take control of the period, outshooting the Lightning 13-6 as the period went on and tying the game when Tyler Seguin scored a power play goal at the 11:05 mark. Seguin gave the Stars their only lead of the game in the second period when he scored at the 8:13 mark for a 2-1 advantage over the Lightning, but from there Tampa Bay was able to take control.
Rookie Anthony Cirelli, playing his first NHL game after having been called up from the AHL’s Syracue Crunch, scored his first NHL goal at the 9:20 mark to tie the game 2-2. Alex Killorn gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead four minutes later, and the Lightning continued to push as the second period wore on. Steven Stamkos scored on a breakaway at the 16:08 mark in what would turn out to be a huge goal that gave Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead.
The Stars pushed back for much of the third period, beginning when Brett Ritchie scored just a minute and fifty seconds into the frame to cut the Lightning lead to 4-3. Dallas outshot Tampa Bay 14-3 in the third period, and when the Stars pulled the goalie, they were able to tie the game 4-4 on a Mattias Janmark goal with under four seconds to go to force overtime.
The overtime was an action-packed one that saw both teams get a couple of legitimate chances to end the game, but the game would come to an end when Cory Conacher flailed a rebound past Ben Bishop into the goal that would get the Lightning a huge second point. Louis Dominigue got the win in net in spite of getting shaken up in the overtime frame - he was starting in place of Andrei Vasilevskiy in the second game of a back-to-back, and made 31-of-35 saves. Former Lightning netminder Ben Bishop went 20-for-25 in net for Dallas in taking the overtime loss.
The Lightning return home to begin an eight game homestand beginning on Saturday afternoon when they host the Flyers. Faceoff is set for 1 PM at Amalie Arena - you can hear that game, beginning with pregame coverage at high noon, on News Radio 970 WFLA.
SCORING:
1ST PERIOD:
1. TBL - Point - (Miller) - 1:02
2. DAL - PPG - Seguin - (Benn, Radulov) - 11:05
2ND PERIOD:
1. DAL - Seguin - (Klinberg, Lindell) - 8:13
2. TBL - Cirelli - (Hedman, Kunitz) - 9:20
3. TBL - Killorn - (Paquette, Cirelli) - 13:53
4. TBL - Stamkos - (Miller) - 16:08
3RD PERIOD:
1. TBL - Ritchie - (Dikinson, Elie) - 1:50
2. TBL - Janmark - (Seguin, Faksa) - 19:56
OVERTIME:
1. TBL - Conacher - (None) - 4:19
PENALTY SUMMARY:
1ST PERIOD:
1. TBL - Conacher - (Holding) - 10:07
2. TBL - Paquette - (Slashing) - 13:20
2ND PERIOD:
1. DAL - Johns - (Slashing) - 2:00
2. DAL - Hamhuis - (Hooking) 6:02
3. DAL - Spezza - (Too Many Men On Ice) - 6:40
4. TBL - Gourde - (Tripping) - 7:07
3RD PERIOD:
(None)
OVERTIME:
(None)