The Lightning sent a message with how they started Game 2, both to the Stars and themselves: They are a better team than they showed in Game 1.
Tampa Bay scored three goals in the first period, then went on to a 3-2 win to even up the Stanley Cup final at a game apiece at Edmonton's Rogers Place on Monday night.
Center Brayden Point got things started with a power-play goal 11:23 into the game, then left wing Ondrej Palat followed with another three minutes later. The third goal came courtesy of Kevin Shattenkirk less than a minute after the second.
The Lightning were saying they were ready to go and wanted to play their game, not wait for the Stars again.
Dallas came back with goals in the second and third period. First center Joe Pavelski redirected a shot by defenseman John Klingberg, then center Mattias Janmark redirected a pass from Klingberg in the third.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves on 29 shots, while on the other end Anton Khudobin made 28 saves on the Lighting's 31 shots.
