EditorsNote: minor fixes
Dallas' Jamie Benn capped a two-goal night with an overtime tally as the Stars broke Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's 10-game winning streak in a 3-2 victory over the visiting Lightning on Monday night.
Benn stole a clearing pass by Brayden Point in the extra period, and he chipped the puck past Point. He then deked Vasilevskiy for the unassisted winner at 2:07 of the three-on-three session.
Denis Gurianov scored, and Tyler Seguin, Esa Lindell and Blake Comeau produced assists for Dallas, which improved to 16-7-2 at home and swept the two-game season series with Tampa Bay. Stars goalie Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots.
Steven Stamkos notched two goals, Nikita Kucherov chipped in two assists, and Jan Rutta and Victor Hedman added helpers for the Lightning, who fell to 3-6-3 against the Central Division. Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
Dallas was victorious in a 4-3 overtime contest in Tampa on Dec. 19 -- Vasilevskiy's last loss before starting his 10-game streak. However, the Lightning dominated that one, outshooting the Stars 48-20 before Seguin's game-winner.
The Stars failed on three man advantages and the Lightning once in a penalty-filled first period Monday, but it ended with Dallas' dynamic Roope Hintz missing from the club's bench after playing just 20 seconds on one shift.
The Finnish forward, who tops the Stars with 15 markers and played in his 100th NHL game, was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.
Vasilevskiy was brilliant in the middle of the second period -- denying a three-on-one, a two-on-one and a great chance on a delayed penalty by the Stars -- and the Lightning finally cashed in with 6:19 left in the period.
Kucherov fired a long shot that somehow wound its way through traffic, found Stamkos and beat Bishop to push the Lightning captain's point streak to four games (three goals, three assists) by game's end.
The speedy Gurianov took a pass from Seguin and blazed in from the left side, outracing defenseman Erik Cernak and slipping his 12th goal between Vasilevskiy's pads to knot it at 1 at 17:49 of the middle period.
Dallas played the entire third period without Andrew Cogliano, leaving the Stars with 10 forwards, but Benn gloved a pass, skated in and scored with a forehand deke and backhand on a breakaway at 9:06.
With Vasilevskiy on the bench in the final two minutes for the extra skater, Stamkos one-timed home his second marker with 1:26 remaining to force overtime.
--Field Level Media
