Dominic James and Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist apiece, and the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning stretched their point streak to 13 games with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon.
That point streak is tied for the fourth-longest in franchise history. The team record is 18 set in the 2003-04 season.
Brandon Hagel netted the go-ahead goal in the second period, with Nikita Kucherov reaching the 70-point mark with an assist. Pontus Holmberg scored an empty-netter. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots as Tampa Bay moved to 18-4-4 on the road.
Oskar Back notched the game’s first marker, and goalie Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for Dallas. Forward Mikko Rantanen skated in his 700th NHL game, but Dallas fell to 2-6-4 in the past dozen games.
Back forced a turnover by Tampa Bay’s Nick Paul as the latter tried to exit the defensive end. Mavrik Bourque then sent the puck over to Nils Lundkvist, whose shot struck Vasilevskiy and dribbled behind the netminder. Back skate in and poked home the puck.
After the Lightning killed off the first power play, a quick entry by Guentzel and James led to a 1-1 tie when James wristed a shot that beat Oettinger on the blocker side at 8:04 of the first.
Vasilevskiy starred in the final two minutes by stopping Justin Hryckowian twice on a backhander and a snap shot. His final denial was on a breakaway on Stars’ top goal-scorer Jason Robertson.
In a second period in which the Lightning outshot Dallas 15-9, the visitors took their first lead when Kucherov slid a pass wide of the goal with Oettinger out of position. Hagel then tucked home his 23rd goal at 11:04.
As the frame approached its final minute, defenseman Darren Raddysh’s pokecheck led to a rush that ended with Guentzel finding a rebound of James’ shot and backhanding it home for his 21st tally for a 3-1 lead.
Holmberg hit an empty net with 2:01 left to secure the victory. Vasilevskiy had to stop just two shots in the period as the Lightning finished 4-0-1 on their road swing and swept their two-game season series with Dallas.
–Field Level Media
