Cirelli comes up clutch as the Lightning strike down the stars

All the “stars,” both the “stars” of the Tampa Bay Lightning and all of the visiting Dallas Stars were on the ice on Thursday for an evening matchup at Benchmark International Arena.

It was a true defensive battle on the ice between the two clubs as the game remained scoreless through the first period. The visiting Dallas Stars had just six shots on goal in the first period as the Lightning had 11, but neither team was able to put the puck through the net in the first. Jake Oettinger had all 11 saves for the Stars in the first period and Andrei Vasilevskiy had six saves in the first.

The Lightning finally broke the tie in the second. After a Dallas penalty, Brandon Hagel took advantage of the Stars playing short-handed when he scored on a wrist shot with 4:58 remaining in the period and just seconds remaining in the power play. His goal gave the Lightning a 1-0 second period lead over Dallas. The shot was assisted by Gage Goncalves and Charlie-Edouard D’Astous with his first assist of the season and it was a big one as he continues to see success on the ice this week.

In total in the second period, the Stars four shots on goal in the second period to Tampa’s 10 shots.

The Lightning took the 1-0 lead into the third period. They were also out-shooting The Stars 21-10 after two periods.

The Stars tied it up in the third period. Adam Erne scored on a tip-in that got passed Vasilevskiy. He was assisted by Alexander Petrovic and Radek Faksa to make it a 1-1 game with 17:00 left in the period.

After the Stars scored in the start of the third, the game remained tied at 1-1 through the remainder of the period, taking the game into everyone’s favorite, overtime!

But the Lightning wouldn’t need the full overtime period as Anthony Cirelli broke away down the ice to score a solo, unassisted goal to push the Lightning past the Stars for their fourth straight win as the bolts begin to strike, staying hot against the Stars.

Tampa Bay has the next two days off before they head to Utah on Sunday for a 3:30PM EST matchup against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Utah. They take a hot streak of four-straight wins and a lot of momentum with them out west.

Tune into Fubo Sports, ESPN, or the NHL Network to see if the Lightning can make it five straight wins.