TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning knew they would see a motivated Stars team on Saturday night at Amalie Arena following Dallas’ 7-1 blowout loss to the Panthers on Friday.
Dallas, which entered on a six-game road losing streak, put up a fight, but it wasn’t enough to get past Tampa Bay, which won its third straight with a 3-1 victory over the Stars.
The first 14 minutes of the game were quiet, but the last six minutes of the first period amplified with a pair of goals.
Dallas’ Esa Lindell opened the scoring with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that slipped past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy for a 1-0 lead.
But a Stars penalty from Ryan Suter — cross-checking with 2:02 remaining — was enough to give the Lightning a chance to tie.
With 14 seconds remaining in the period, Victor Hedman took a shot from the point that hit the boards and rebounded just outside of the crease. Nikita Kucherov collected the rebound and found Brayden Point at the bottom of the slot, and Point sent a quick shot past goaltender Anton Khudobin to tie it.
It was Point’s 15th goal of the season, tying Ondrej Palat for the second most on the team behind Steven Stamkos (18).
The Lightning’s defense and puck possession kept Dallas away from the net for much of the scoreless second period, limiting the Stars to just two shots on goal in 20 minutes to Tampa Bay’s nine.
Despite starting off the third period with a two-minute power play, the Lightning couldn’t get their offense moving in the right direction until about halfway through the period.
Kucherov grabbed the puck from the half-wall and sent a long stretch pass up the ice to Ross Colton, who skated straight down the slot toward Khudobin. Colton flicked the puck under the bar for the Lightning’s first lead of the game. It was Colton’s fifth goal of the season.
Alex Killorn added an empty-netter with 40 seconds left for the final margin.
