Stanley Cup Final preview: Lightning vs. Stars

The Stanley Cup Final -- the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Dallas Stars in a best-of-7 series -- will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Final.

RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Stars series coverage]

No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. No. 3 Dallas Stars

Lightning: 4-2 to win Eastern Conference Final against No. 6 New York Islanders; 4-1 to win second round against No. 4 Boston Bruins; 4-1 to win first round against No. 7 Columbus Blue Jackets; 2-1-0 in Qualifiers round-robin; 43-21-6, .657 points percentage in regular season.
Stars: 4-1 to win Western Conference Final against No. 1 Vegas Golden Knights; 4-3 to win second round against No. 2 Colorado Avalanche; 4-2 to win first round against No. 6 Calgary Flames; 2-1-0 in Qualifiers round-robin; 37-24-8, .594 points percentage in regular season.
Season series: TBL 0-0-2; DAL 2-0-0

Game 1 is Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS)

Two of the most successful Southern teams in the NHL will be in the spotlight when the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.
The Stars, who relocated from Minnesota for the 1993-94 season, are the Western Conference champion for the third time since the move, the first time since 2000.
They won the Stanley Cup in 1999 against the Buffalo Sabres and lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Final the next season.
The Lightning, who joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1992-93 season, are in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time, winning in 2004 against the Calgary Flames and losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015.
"Obviously it's going to be a really good matchup, and we've got to find ways to slow their back end down and just play our kind of hockey," Lightning forward Pat Maroon said after a 2-1 overtime win against the New York Islanders in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday. "They're playing really good. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now, so it's going to be a fun series, so we're looking forward to it."
There is high-end talent on each team.
"We've got a great team," Stars forward Jamie Benn said. "Everyone's bought into their role. … Probably one of the best teams, if not the best team I've played on. We just jell as a group. It's fun in that locker room, and we're going to try and keep this thing going."

The Stars are led by Miro Heiskanen, who has scored 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 21 games to lead defensemen in the postseason.
He is countered by Victor Hedman, who has scored nine goals, most among defensemen, and tied for second regardless of position. He is averaging 26:31 per game, the most of any player to reach at least the conference final.
Anton Khudobin, a career NHL backup, has inherited the goalie job for Dallas with Ben Bishop unfit to play. Khudobin had a .950 save percentage in the Western Conference Final, allowing eight goals in five games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner voted as the best goalie in the NHL and a finalist again this season, has been just as good in the postseason. His .932 save percentage and 1.82 goals-against average are the best among goalies who reached the second round.
At forward, the Stars have been led by Benn, who has scored 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists), and Joe Pavelski and rookie Denis Gurianov, each with nine goals.
The Lightning counter with forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
Kucherov leads the postseason with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 19 games, with at least one point in 14 postseason games. Point has scored 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 17 games.
The Stars won two games against the Lightning in the regular season, each in overtime (4-3 on Dec. 19; 3-2 on Jan. 27). Tyler Seguin scored three points (one goal, two assists) for Dallas, and Benn scored two goals. Kucherov led the Lightning with three assists against the Stars, and Steven Stamkos, who has not played in the postseason because of a lower-body injury, scored two goals.

Game breakers

Lightning: Since Kucherov's rookie season of 2013-14, his 87 postseason points (35 goals, 52 assists) are more than any player in the NHL, three ahead of Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The forward scored 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the Eastern Conference Final, including five points (one goal, four assists) in an 8-2 win in Game 1. He scored the game-winning goal with nine seconds remaining in the third period of a 2-1 win in Game 2.
Stars: Benn, the Stars captain, scored in each of the final three games of the Western Final, each a Dallas win, and five points (three goals, two assists) in the five-game series. "He drives the bus for us," Stars general manager Jim Nill said. "As he goes, we go, and we're witnessing that now."

Goaltending

Lightning: Vasilevskiy has played every minute of the postseason and is 14-5-0. Among goalies to play at least seven games, he has the best save percentage and is second in GAA and third in even-strength save percentage (.939).
Stars: When Dallas reached the Final with a 3-2 overtime win against Vegas, Khudobin received a chain to put around his neck as the Stars player of the game. "We're not going home!" he yelled in the locker room. That is thanks in large part to him. Khudobin has played 16 straight games, starting 15. He is 11-4 in that stretch with a 2.62 GAA and .921 save percentage. In five games against Vegas, he was 4-1 with a 1.69 GAA, a .950 save percentage and one shutout.

Numbers to know

Lightning: They are 10-2 (83.3 percent) in one-goal games during the playoffs, and 4-1 in overtime. Success in close, grinding games usually found in the playoffs is key to postseason success; seven of the past eight teams to win the Stanley Cup have won at least 60 percent of their one-goal games.
Stars: Dallas was the second-best defensive team in the regular season, allowing 2.52 goals per game, behind the Boston Bruins (2.39). In 16 postseason games before the Western Conference Final, they allowed 3.50 goals per game. But they cut that to 1.60 against Vegas. Though Khudobin was a large part of it, the Stars also kept the Golden Knights to the outside and blocked 85 shots. Dallas is second in the postseason in hits (879) and first in takeaways (174).

X-factors

Lightning: Maroon will be relied on mostly for his strong forechecking to try to wear down the Stars defensemen. But the forward has a history against Dallas in the playoffs. With the St. Louis Blues last season, Maroon scored against the Stars in double overtime in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round.
Stars:Forward Joel Kiviranta played 13 NHL games, 11 in the regular season, two in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, before Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Colorado Avalanche. He had a hat trick in a 5-4 overtime win that included the tying goal in the third period and the winner. In Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, he scored the tying goal in a 3-2 overtime win to end the series.

They said it

"They're obviously playing a great team game right now, a great team game. There's a lot of speed up front as well as a lot of size. Their [defense] corps can obviously lock it down but at the same time they have a couple of guys there that can join the rush and make you pay offensively. We know Khudobin's been playing really well." -- Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk
"Through these playoffs, you're going to go through some tough times. You don't know which way it's going to go, and our guys have stuck with it. They believe in themselves, they're hardened and they're resilient, and that's what you have to be in the playoffs. You're not going to make it very far in the playoffs if you're not resilient, and we have a resilient group of guys." -- Stars general manager Jim Nill

Will win if ...

Lightning: They can use their speed and skill to open holes in the defense. The Lightning like to play fast and get the puck up the ice and can attack through the middle. The Stars are good at keeping play to the outside. If the Lightning can avoid being pushed to the perimeter, they should be able to use their speed to create scoring chances.

Stars:They keep shooters to the outside and get great goaltending from Khudobin, while getting opportunistic scoring. That was the formula against the Golden Knights, even though they were outshot 166-118 in the series. It will have to be the formula against the Lightning, who outshot the Islanders 213-165.

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Blake Coleman
Barclay Goodrow -- Yanni Gourde -- Tyler Johnson
Pat Maroon -- Cedric Paquette
Victor Hedman -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan McDonagh -- Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev -- Erik Cernak
Luke Schenn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Mathieu Joseph, Mitchell Stephens, Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Volkov, Braydon Coburn, Scott Wedgewood
Unfit to play: Jan Rutta, Steven Stamkos

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Denis Gurianov
Joel Kiviranta -- Roope Hintz -- Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano -- Jason Dickinson -- Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera --
Joel Hanley
Anton Khudobin
Jake Oettinger
Scratched: Nick Caamano, Ty Dellandrea, Jason Robertson, Gavin Bayreuther, Thomas Harley, Landon Bow, Justin Dowling, Taylor Fedun
Unfit to play:Stephen Johns, Ben Bishop, Radek Faksa