Lightning use surge in second period to win Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final

The Tampa Bay Lightning's ability to control the second period this postseason continued against the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday.

Tampa Bay escaped the first period with a one-goal lead despite being outshot 16-8, then erupted for three straight goals and outshot Dallas 21-4 in the second for a 5-2 win at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The Lightning took the lead in the best-of-7 series with Game 4 in Edmonton, the hub city for the Cup Final, on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"It's hard to play perfect all the time," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Give Dallas credit; they pushed and our goalie (Andrei Vasilevskiy) made some saves. We were just really disappointed when we went in the room with how we played that period, although the last few minutes kind of went back to what we do well.
"That's what great, the boys go in that room and it's not a one-man show dictating what we have to do, it's everybody. Everybody is really committed to the plan, but they're really communicating it to each other in the room. We've had some down times, but the positivity in our room and the confidence has been exceptional. It was pretty impressive what the boys did in the second period. If you want to get as far as we are now, you have to do those type of things. You have to rebound, and that's what they did."

The Lightning were the better team in the second period in their previous two series this postseason; they outscored the Boston Bruins 8-4 in the Eastern Conference Second Round and the New York Islanders 5-3 in the conference final. Tampa Bay eliminated Boston in five games and New York in six.
But the Lightning were outscored 3-0 in the second period through the first two games in the Cup Final before breaking through Wednesday.
"I think we just stick to our game plan," Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov said. "Put the puck deep and go and forecheck. The simpler we play, the better we play. … We have to do that two more times."
Victor Hedman scored a power-play goal 54 seconds into the second period, a wrist shot from the slot that gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead.
Hedman became the third defenseman in NHL history to score at least 10 goals in a postseason; Paul Coffey had 12 with the Edmonton Oilers in 1985, and Brian Leetch scored 11 for the New York Rangers in 1994.
He had a goal and two assists in Game 3 and has 20 points in 22 games; all but one point, an assist, has been scored in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Lightning played three games in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"We're not here for our personal stats," Hedman said. "We're here for one thing and that's winning the Stanley Cup, so when I get the puck on my stick, [I] make a pass or shoot for the goal. But [I'm] obviously happy with the way things have been going. But at the end of the day, it's about helping our team win, and even if it's by a goal or a blocked shot, it doesn't really matter to us. The end goal is still the same."
Brayden Point scored his NHL-leading 11th goal on a one-timer from Kucherov to make it 4-1 at 12:02, and Ondrej Palat gave the Lightning a 5-1 lead with a backhand near the top of the crease with 1:05 left in the period.

Stars goalie Anton Khudobin, who hadn't allowed more than three goals in seven straight starts, was pulled after the second period; he allowed five on 29 shots. Jake Oettinger made three saves in the third.
"I think like most goalies in this league, if he sees that shot, he's going to save it," Point said of Khudobin. "I think he competes extremely hard, so I think just getting traffic on him is key and trying to get inside their [defensemen]. Their D do a good job boxing out; it's tough work to get in there, but if anything, I think it's just trying to get to the net hard."
The second-period surge helped the Lightning move within two wins of their first championship since 2004. The winner of Game 3 when a best-of-7 Final is tied is 22-7 (75.9 percent) winning the series.
Tampa Bay received a lift before and during the game with the return of captain Steven Stamkos, who played for the first time since Feb. 25. The forward, who was out with a lower-body injury, gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead at 6:58 of the first period after Kucherov opened the scoring at 5:33.
Stamkos is the second player in NHL history to score when playing his first game of that postseason in the Stanley Cup Final. Billy Taylor Sr. also did so for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940 Final against the New York Rangers.
Stamkos did not play after the first but returned to the bench with 12:39 left in the second.
"Let's be honest, we've won nothing yet," Cooper said. "We've got two games, and there's still so much farther ways to go. But what's going on right now and the mental makeup of this group is impressive, and hopefully we can keep it going."