Wedgewood, Stars shut out Lightning to keep pace in West wild card race

DALLAS --Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for his fifth NHL shutout, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

"Probably the best structured game I've probably been a part of on both sides of the puck," Wedgewood said. "That's what we need, we need that from everybody, we need that all-in effort. Guys are banged up and bleeding at the end of it. But that's a playoff game, and we're going to need that to win. It's impressive to watch."

Roope Hintz scored for the Stars (41-27-4), who are 6-2-1 in their past nine games.
Dallas holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Stars are three points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights and one point behind the Nashville Predators for the first wild card.
"That was playoff hockey," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "That's probably the best game of the year. It's a 1-0 game with plenty of scoring chances at both ends, great goaltending. Just great second efforts tonight. You saw guys diving in front of shots and taking hits to make plays; that's what it's all about. We talked to them this morning, it's all-in now. We're all-in, everybody. And we had everybody on it tonight."
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning (44-21-8), who have one win in their past six games and are 10-10-2 since March 1. Tampa Bay is third in the Atlantic Division, four points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for second and one point ahead of the Boston Bruins.
"We've given up two goals in the last three games (2-1 overtime loss against the Bruins on Friday, 5-0 win against Buffalo Sabres on Sunday), and we've lost two of them," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "The defensive side has been a lot better, but you also can't win a game when you don't score. It's just about finding that balance now."
Hintz made it 1-0 at 15:10 of the third period off a pass from behind the net by Joe Pavelski. The Stars forward was uncovered in the slot and one-timed the pass for his fourth point (two goals, two assists) in two games.
"There wasn't much time left, and the fans were going crazy," Hintz said. "They were great today. They've been like that every game we've played here. It's so nice to play [at home]."

Tampa Bay outshot Dallas 12-10 in the third period, with four shots on goal in the last minute. The Lightning also had two shots blocked in the final 34 seconds, by Stars captain Jamie Benn on a Ross Colton slap shot, and Tyler Seguin on Victor Hedman with six seconds left.
"[Wedgewood] didn't see enough shots," Lightning forward Pat Maroon said. "We didn't get enough shot volume, so we made it an easy night for him. Not saying he didn't play good. We didn't make it hard on him. Towards the end there when he was scrambling there, that was probably the most pressure we put on him as far as the game went on. We've got to get back to that."
Acquired from the Arizona Coyotes on March 20, Wedgewood is 3-0-1 in four starts with Dallas with a 2.67 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. His last shutout was March 7, 2021, when he made 40 saves in a 1-0 win against the Boston Bruins as a member of the New Jersey Devils.
"Dallas defends. They check, just as we did. They just checked one goal better than us." Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And then, when they did break down, [Wedgewood] was there to make the save. Good for him."
NOTES:Vasilevskiy is 0-2-1 in his past three starts. … Stars forward Vladislav Namestnikov left the game with a lower-body injury after playing 3:58 in the first period. Bowness listed him as "day-to-day" after the game. … Stars forward Jason Robertson had an assist, and has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. … Pavelski has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. … The shutout is the second one for the Stars this season. Goalie Jake Oettinger made 34 saves in a 1-0 shutout win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 18. … Tampa Bay has been shut out three times this season.