The Tampa Bay Lightning fell short in double overtime to secure their second Stanley Cup in franchise history as they lose to the Dallas Stars 3-2 in double overtime.
Dallas struck first in an action packed first period as the final minutes of the frame found Corey Perry sticking the puck into the net passed the right shoulder of Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to make the game 1-0 Dallas.Perry taking advantage of a bouncing puck in the slot buried the goal to give Dallas an early lead, their third in the series.
Tampa Bay answered back with a furious rush in the second period and capitalized in the first five minutes of the second period as Ondrej Palat took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and weaved in-between Anton Khudobin and the defense to slide the puck into the net tying the game at one a piece earning a point in his fourth straight playoff game.On the goal, Kucherov’s assist made him the third player in NHL history with 26 or more assists in a Stanley Cup playoff joining the ranks of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
The two teams would head to the third with the Lightning leading in shots on goal after two frames 22-15, when a 98 mph blast off the stick of Mikhail Sergachev flew past Khudobin through traffic early in the third period to make it 2-1 Tampa Bay.
Dallas would not go away quietly as they struck back on the power play for only the second time in the series as Joe Pavelski knocked in a rebound off a Heiskanen shot that Vasilevskiy simply could not stop tying the game at two a piece with just over six minutes to play in regulation.
The game would head to overtime for the second time in the Stanley Cup Final as Corey Perry scored the game winning goal in the second overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning will have to wait till Monday to find out if they can be called Stanley Cup Champions once again.
Andrei Vasilevskiy finished the game with 27 saves.
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