Stars fail to gain in Central playoff race with loss to Lightning

TAMPA -- The Dallas Stars failed to gain ground in the Discover Central Division playoff race with a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

Erik Cernak had a goal and two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves in his 300th game for the Lightning (36-14-3), who extended their point streak to seven games (6-0-1).
"We're playing pretty decent defensively," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "When you're playing the same teams over and over again and they are all defensive and have pretty good structure in their defensive games, you've got to be on your game in that regard, and it's probably helped us."
Tyler Seguin and Andrej Sekera scored, and Jake Oettinger made 14 saves for the Stars (21-18-14), who are 0-3-2 in their past five games.
Dallas remained four points behind the fourth-place Nashville Predators with a game in hand for the final Stanley Cup Playoff berth from the eight-team division. The Predators lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Wednesday.
The Lightning moved into a tie for second place with the Florida Panthers, four points behind the first-place Carolina Hurricanes. All three have clinched a playoff berth.
"I mean, we understand we need to win, and we need help," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "We have to win our next game (Friday at Tampa Bay) and focus from there and see what happens. That's the biggest thing. We have to have a narrow focus, have to win a game and go from there. We're not going to get all three at once, so focus on the first one."
Tyler Johnson gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 2:14 of the first period when he finished a rush that started when Alex Killorn forced a turnover. It was Johnson's first goal in 22 games.
"You have to be comfortable in [low-scoring, tight-checking] games," Johnson said. "That's how you win championships. We were very good at it last year and hopefully we're learning this year and getting better at it."

Seguin tied it 1-1 at 19:33 when he chipped in a pass from Pavelski for his second goal in two games. Seguin missed the first 51 games of the season after having hip surgery Nov. 2.
Killorn put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 16:39 of the second period when Yanni Gourde passed to him open in front.
"That was a team that was hungry and desperate," Killorn said. "There was a ton of offense out there, but I don't think we gave up a ton. We were pretty opportunistic."
Brayden Point made it 3-1 at 19:46 after he stripped Stars defenseman Esa Lindell deep in the zone and beat Oettinger with a backhand to the far post.
"Yeah, he caught me flat-footed there," Lindell said. "Right when I was catching that puck, he came and took it from me. That was a bad turnover."
Sekera cut it to 3-2 with a one-timer from the right point at 10:44 of the third period for his first goal in 22 games.
"Our details haven't been sharp enough," Stars forward Jason Dickinson said. "You see we're giving up goals that are uncharacteristic of us, letting their D-men step into one-timers a lot. They're getting a lot of shots through, stuff like that. We're trying hard to do the right things and we're trying hard to cover up some mistakes, but it's opening up others."
Cernak scored on a one-timer from above the right circle to extend the lead to 4-2 at 11:34.
"They are on life support for the playoffs … a proud team that came out and pushed in the third," Cooper said. "They get that goal. … I liked our response after that. Even just the shift after we kind of had it in their end a bit and then we ended up scoring. That was probably a frustrating one to give up for them."

Ross Colton scored into an empty net at 16:47 to make it 5-2, and Mikhail Sergachev scored an empty-net goal at 19:07 for the 6-2 final.
"Well, three turnovers led to three of their goals," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "We didn't give them very much all night. They didn't need much. It's as simple as that. They're a very highly skilled team that can score on the rush, on the forecheck. They don't need many opportunities to score four goals."
NOTES:Vasilevskiy is 6-1-0 with a .943 save percentage, 1.41 goals against average and three shutouts against the Stars this season. ... He is 190-81-19 in 300 NHL games (290 starts) in seven seasons with Tampa Bay. … Killorn, Point and Johnson each had a goal and an assist. … Killorn's goal was his 146th to pass Fredrik Modin for seventh in Lightning history. … Point has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in the past six games.