Although they didn't allow a goal, Dallas lamented the three penalties they took in the third period of Game 1. They couldn't buck that trend in the early going of Game 2, and this time, the Bolts took advantage.
With Joe Pavelski in the box for tripping midway through the first period, Brayden Point fired home a one-timer from the high slot to put Tampa Bay in front. On the shot, Anton Khudobin ended up sliding the wrong direction after the puck deflected off the stick of Esa Lindell. On their third power play chance of the period three minutes later, Ondrej Palat finished off a tic tac toe passing sequence to double the lead. Victor Hedman fed Nikita Kucherov at the right circle and he threaded a cross-ice pass to Palat who scored into a completely open net.
Tampa Bay grew the lead to three less than two minutes later with their lone even strength goal of the night. Kevin Shattenkirk fired a shot from the right boards that Khudobin couldn't stop through traffic in front of the net.
The Lightning had their own penalty issues in the second period, giving Dallas four chances with the man advantage. Five seconds into their third opportunity, the Stars converted to make it 3-1. Dallas won the faceoff back to John Klingberg and his point shot was deflected by Joe Pavelski on its way past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The start of the third period went exactly to script for the Stars with Mattias Janmark pulling Dallas within a goal early on. John Klingberg sent a feed through the crease to Janmark at the far post and he fought through Shattenkirk's check to get the puck over the line.
A successful Dallas challenge then erased Mikhail Sergachev's goal midway through the third. His shot from the point got through Khudobin but the Stars challenged and replay revealed that Blake Coleman had entered the zone before the puck.
As things tightened up down the stretch, the Lightning were secure protecting the lead. Tampa Bay capitalized on a Joel Kiviranta broken stick and set up shop in the Dallas zone with two minutes remaining to burn time. The Bolts also clogged the neutral zone and prevented the Stars from getting Khudobin to the bench. When Dallas finally got the extra attacker on the ice, Tampa Bay maintained puck possession and kept the Stars from getting set up in the offensive zone.
The Bolts and Stars now head into Wednesday's Game 3 with the series tied 1-1.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL | 11:23 Brayden Point (10) - Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman - PPG
TBL | 14:22 Ondrej Palat (9) - Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman - PPG
TBL | 15:56 Kevin Shattenkirk (2) - Blake Coleman, Anthony Cirelli
2nd Period
DAL | 14:43 Joe Pavelski (10) - John Klingberg, Alexander Radulov
3rd Period
DAL | 5:27 Mattias Janmark (1) - John Klingberg, Alexander Radulov
