After surviving the NHL’s third annual Frozen Frenzy on Tuesday, the Dallas Stars and host Tampa Bay Lightning will bring three-game winning streaks to the rink when they meet Thursday night.
For Dallas, the loss of a trio of 20-goal scorers — Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov — and injuries to Jamie Benn (collapsed lung) and Oskar Back (lower body) forced coach Glen Gulutzan to mix and match. Gulutzan placed center Tyler Seguin on the third line with Adam Erne and Colin Blackwell.
In Tuesday’s 1-0 home win over the Washington Capitals, Seguin was back on a line with Sam Steele and Mikko Rantanen and scored the game’s lone goal.
However, much of the jovial postgame talk was about the day’s announcement of defenseman Thomas Harley’s eight-year contract extension worth over $84.7 million.
“It was one of the coolest signings I’ve seen because we had heard rumblings, and before the game it was on (NHL Network) and we were all over there,” Seguin said. “It was a very loud pregame. We were pretty happy, and he got a little red. But he’s a great player and we’re proud of him.”
A native of Syracuse whose parents are from Edmonton, Harley chose to play for Team Canada’s gold-medal-winning group in the 4 Nations Face-Off last winter.
Seguin said he has watched the 24-year-old’s growth as a player.
“(He’s made) a lot of strides. Now he has a lot of cash,” Seguin joked.
Wyatt Johnston leads Dallas with six goals along with four assists, while Rantanen has four tallies to go along with eight helpers, making him the club leader with 12 points. Jason Robertson has nine points (three goals, six assists).
In the crease against Washington, Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots in his first shutout and 13th of his career.
The 26-year-old is 5-2-1 with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in starting eight games.
While the Stars had to withstand a four-game losing skid (0-3-1) before their current run, Tampa Bay was last in the Eastern Conference over the weekend, but coach Jon Cooper’s club has seemingly found its own stride and now owns the conference’s longest active winning streak.
Playing on an edgy line with Yanni Gourde and Pontus Holmberg, tough forward Zemgus Girgensons scored twice — the first and final goals — as the Lightning won 5-2 at the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
“The line before us did a lot of work, then Gordo did a good job in the corner and Holmy just put it right on my tape,” the 31-year-old Latvian winger said of his first goal this season. “I think we’re pretty similar players: We like it simple, we like to work. It’s a simple recipe, but it works.”
Of the line’s success, Cooper said: “First of all, they all play defense. They’re all strong. Maybe Gordo’s not the biggest guy out on the ice, but he plays like he is. They’re all committed to playing the right way.”
After Nashville cut it to 2-1 at the 5:05 mark of the final frame, rookie Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Nikita Kucherov and Girgensons tallied to send the Lightning southward in good spirits.
D’Astous’ game-winner, his first NHL goal, came in his third game.
Over the course of the three victories, Brandon Hagel has totaled two goals and four assists.
–Field Level Media
