Lightning starred in the scenes after winning the third match in a row

Edmonton, Alberta – Tampa Bay Lightning can be less than 24 hours away from lifting the Stanley Cup.

With their captain, Stephen Stamkus, due to injury, trailing two goals in the first half, the Lightning team rallied to a 5-4 overtime win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night at Rogers Place.

Lightning defender Kevin Shatenkirk scored the match winner in the Power Game. Tampa Bay has now won three games in a row and can win the tournament on Saturday night. The consecutive weekend matches are the first in the Stanley Cup Finals since 2009 and only the second since the expansion era began in 1967.

In the extra frame, the teams exchanged chances to play power. The stars fail to take advantage while Mikhail Sergachev is away from being caught by Tyler Sejwen, but Lightning seizes the opportunity when Jimmy Ben is whistled over a tumble call against Tyler Johnson.

The man advantage took a minute and 24 seconds to communicate, when Shatenkirk fired a shot from above the right-facing point and defeated Anton Khudobin on the far post.

Finally, Lightning was 3 versus 4 with the man advantage in the game, while the stars went 0 for 3.

“I think there are a lot of players who did some big plays tonight,” Shatenkirk said. A lot of times you just look at the player who scored the game winning goal, but it took a lot to achieve. We kept it simple on the strength game and good things happened.

“It was a big moment.”

After the second half ended in a draw, the two teams exchanged goals again in the third half. Keelorn gave the Lightning team a 4-3 lead, then Joe Pavelski tied with stars with 8:25 left in the standings when his Andrei Vasilevskiy shot bounced off Shattenkirk’s leg.

The last 28.3 seconds of regulation was played in 4-on-4, after Corey Perry was whistled to intervene with Brayden Point, who also received a cosmetic minor. Shatenkirk finished it off in overtime.

“I was thinking I deserved some kind of good karma for it,” said Shatenkirk. “I felt bad doing that to Fassi, when it exploded after he first tackled. Thanks to them – this was what they were doing to try to put us in our wake, just throw pucks into the net.”

Tampa Bay scored twice, while Yanni Gord and Alex Kilron scored once. Pavlsky scored two goals for Dallas. Also scored by John Klingberg and Perry.

Vasilievsky, who played every minute of the post-season for Lightning, gave up three goals in his first seven shots, but managed to save on 26 overall. Stop Cheeks 30 of 35 for Dallas.

Dallas coach Rick Bowness is looking for more attacking attacks, and he started his first period with an ever-changing mix of streak combinations.

Early on, both teams settled on strict scrutiny, and Klenberg opened the scoring in the stars’ first shot of the match, an impressive solo effort that came seven minutes and 17 seconds into the first half.

Despite their 8-3 victory in the opening frame, the Stars extended their lead to 2-0 late in the period when Benn passed on to Pavlsky, who beat Vasilievsky with his 11th goal in the qualifiers.

This led to him being tied as he scored goals after the season ended – for 59 seconds.

The assistant captain, Point, responded by scoring his twelfth goal 33 seconds before the break, after Shatenkirk and Ondrej Balat quickly moved the ice.

“Who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t scored that goal?” Kilorn said. “He scored those goals in all of the qualifiers. We depend on the big players to score those goals and they have achieved it.”

Early in the second half, in the power game, Point added his thirteenth draw to lightning in a 2–2 draw.

The Superstars regained the lead later in the second when Sigwen defeated Sergachev, cut into the net and put the ball back into the crease, bouncing off Vasilievsky’s skate and onto Perry’s wand.

Then the stars dominated a long period of play, but the teams went to the second break in a 3-3 draw. Gorde scored with a shot in the wrist from the high hole while Andrew Cogliano was serving a minor pinning late in the period.

Friday’s match was the first time in a qualifying round that Lightning was late after one period but returned to victory. They were previously 0-4 in this case.

Tampa Bay is now 7-1 in extra time in the post-season period, including a penalty shootout victory over the Washington Capitals during the Robben Round and a five-hour win over the Columbus Blue Jackets to start the first round.

With his team one match away from elimination and the end of their time in the bubble, Pavlsky said the mentality of the stars has not changed.

He said, “We thought this was going to be a long chain.” “We just have to go and extend it now.”

“We’ll go back,” said Bowness. “I have full confidence in our hockey club. I’m proud of the way we played tonight. We will play tomorrow as we did tonight.”

Lightning coach John Cooper said his players were uncharacteristically quiet in the locker room after the match.

They were all pumped when Shatti walked into the room, he said. “When I enter, there is usually kidding, and there was no kidding. Guys, they came here to do something.”

“As we said all the time, we haven’t won anything yet. They really think they know what it takes to win a series. We still have to win another one and we’re not taking anything for granted.”

In terms of injuries, Stamkos was not dressed on Friday after his short but influential appearance on Game 3. Cooper said Friday morning that Stamkos might be able to dress up at some point before the series finale.

Dallas striker Blake Cuomo missed his second match in a row due to injury, and Radek Fakse missed his sixth game. Rob Hintz, another Dallas striker, did not return to the match after hitting the board hard during his second period.