The Tampa Bay Lightning definitely had a sluggish game one of the Stanley Cup Finals. They were clearly outplayed in all facets of the game, and it is no surprise that the Dallas Stars came through with a 4-1 victory.
However, on Monday from Rogers Place in Edmonton, it was a different story. Tampa Bay scored three first period goals en route to a 3-2 victory.
All three of Tampa Bay’s goals came within a span of three minutes and 53 seconds. Brayden Point started the scoring with a power-play marker at 11:23 of the first period from Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman. Ondrej Palat then put Tampa Bay up 2-0 on another power play goal from Kucherov and Hedman again. Then the Stars notched their game winner when defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk of New Rochelle, NY scored from Blake Coleman of Plano, TX and Anthony Cirelli.
For Shattenkirk, it was his second career goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first was an overtime winner for the Washington Capitals in game three of the 2017 Eastern Conference semifinals, a 3-2 Capitals win. The Penguins meanwhile went on to win the series, four games to three.
Clearly, the first period penalties that Joe Pavelski and Jamie Oleksiak took for the Stars were significant. The Lightning clearly showed how strong their power play can be. Even though the Stars had a second period goal from Joe Pavelski, and a third period goal from Mattias Janmark, Dallas was unable to rebound after their sluggish first period. Now the series is tied at one game apiece.
In other NHL news, five elite NHL awards were presented on Monday. Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers won the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Awards, Commerce Charter Township, MI native Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina Trophy, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche won the Calder Trophy, and Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators won the Norris Trophy.
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