The Dallas Stars struck onerous in opposition to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, profitable the opening recreation of the Stanley Cup closing 4-1 in Edmonton.

Joel Hanley, Jamie Oleksiak and Joel Kiviranta scored for the Stars within the first two intervals and Jason Dickinson added an empty-netter within the waning minutes as Dallas held off Tampa Bay’s third-quarter rally bid to take a 1-Zero lead within the best-of-seven championship sequence.

It appears an unlikely run for a Stars workforce that had misplaced six video games in a row earlier than the coronavirus pandemic compelled the NHL to pause its season in March.

They had been outscored 10-5 within the round-robin when play resumed in August — however made their approach into the playoffs and now have an opportunity so as to add a second NHL title to the one they captured in 1999.

Hanley opened the scoring at 5:40 of the primary, taking a go from Roope Hintz and beating Andrei Vasilevskiy to notch his first profession NHL aim.

Yanni Gourde pulled the Lightning stage seven minutes afterward a flukey aim after the puck hit the skate of each Gourde and Hintz.

Oleksiak scored off his personal rebound at 12:30 of the second, and Kiviranta — the hat-trick hero of recreation seven within the second spherical — stretched the result in 3-1 with 27.Four seconds left within the second.

– Khudobin shines in aim –

Dallas held Tampa Bay’s main playoff scorer Nikita Kucherov with out a shot till the third interval, however Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin labored onerous within the third, making 22 of his 35 saves as Dallas had been out-shot 22-2.

“He made some enormous saves on the proper moments,” Stars coach Rick Bowness mentioned. “You already know you are in your heels a little bit bit and with their elite-level offensive abilities they will get some possibilities. You do not wish to give them a aim on the flawed time and also you want an enormous save on the proper time.

“Anton actually did that for us tonight.”

The Stars had the luxurious of 4 nights’ relaxation after finishing a five-game Western Convention closing win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.

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Tampa Bay had simply someday off after enjoying back-to-back additional time video games of their Jap Convention closing overcome the New York Islanders.

“Been a couple of days right here, we received some relaxation,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn mentioned. “I believed we had a great begin to the sport, they received a fortunate one but it surely did not faze us and we simply stored enjoying our recreation.”

“They are a good workforce, they will get their possibilities,” Benn added. “(Khudobin) made a variety of nice saves there within the third interval, stored us in it, and we discovered a solution to win.”

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper mentioned his gamers got here out flat.

“I do not even know if it’s essential take a bathe after the primary two intervals,” he mentioned. “We simply did not have our legs, and clearly it confirmed.

“We will must make it a little bit more durable on their goalie if we’ll rating.”

Recreation two is on Monday in Edmonton, one in every of two quarantine “hub cities” utilized by the NHL when it resumed play in August, and host of each convention finals and the Stanley Cup closing.

The Cup itself was on show Saturday — a break from custom, which normally sees it delivered to an area solely when a workforce has an opportunity to clinch the title.

bb/leg