'Team performance' leads Stars to Game 1 win over Lightning

The Stars on Saturday won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final over Tampa Bay, 4-1, on goals by Joel Hanley, Joel Kiviranta, Jamie Oleksiak and Jason Dickinson. Anton Khudobin contributed 35 saves, including all 22 shots he faced in the third period.
It's an absurd storyline when you think about it, but it's just the way the Stars want it.

Sure, they continue to get big minutes from their best players and are statistically being led by people like Miro Heiskanen, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg, but the bottom line is this is a true team, and nights like Saturday come from that fact.
"It's a team effort, it's a team performance," Khudobin said when he was met with praise in his Zoom call after the win. "I made a couple good saves, I would say, but at the same time, we played together, we played as a team, it's a team sport."
Hanley, 29, has been one of the team's most consistent minor-league defensemen for the past two seasons and has been called into duty because of injuries to Stephen Johns and Taylor Fedun. He's doing exactly what the team believed he could do, and he came up with fantastic timing in scoring his first ever NHL goal in Game 1.
That gave the Stars at 1-0 lead just 5:40 into the game and served as a reward to the entire team for getting off to a good start.

Oleksiak is a 27-year-old defenseman who was drafted in the first round by the Stars in 2011, was traded away to Pittsburgh in 2017 and then traded back in 2019. He is using all of experiences to step into the top four group of defensemen and he tallied his fifth goal of the playoffs Saturday. That's as much as he's ever scored in a regular season.
Kiviranta was a free agent signed from Finland in the summer of 2019. He got his opportunity when Andrew Cogliano suffered an injury against Colorado. Kiviranta tallied a hat trick that night and has continued to wow in the seven games he has played, tallying five goals and coming up with a big hit to help set up the Hanley goal against Tampa Bay.
And Dickinson is the tireless role player who has been elevated to the checking line in the absence of injured Radek Faksa. He now has a goal and two assists in 22 playoff games. He had a huge smile on his face after bagging the empty-netter to get of the schneid.
Khudobin has been doing this game after game, so we're never surprised by the 34-year-old who has played for five NHL teams and didn't start a playoff game before this season. Still, he was again quietly spectacular in the third period when Dallas was protecting a 3-1 lead and was outshot 22-2.
"He's been a rock for us all playoffs. It was no different tonight," said forward Blake Comeau of Khudobin. "We obviously got into a little bit of penalty trouble there in the third. He was there to bail us out, and that's kind of been the storyline of this playoffs."

Comeau took one of those penalties, shooting a puck over the glass in the defensive zone for a delay of game. Tyler Seguin took the other, sticking his leg out on a trip. Either transgression could have been huge and could have really eaten at the confidence of either veteran. Khudobin made sure they didn't.
Meanwhile, the Lightning had to be frustrated by the entire evening. Tampa Bay won its series against the Islanders on Thursday in overtime. Dallas closed out its series on Monday. One team was well rested, the other was not. One team executed well in getting a 3-1 lead, the other did not.
"I don't even know if we had to take a shower after the first two periods," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We're going to have to make it tougher on their goalie if we're going to score."
The Vegas Golden Knights were saying the same thing after Dallas beat them in five games. Khudobin has said the same thing after posting 30 or more saves in three consecutive wins against Vegas.
It's a formula, and so far it's working. Dallas is keeping shots to the outside and helping Khudobin clean up any messes. Then, when the chance comes, they are finding a way to score key goals.

"I thought for 40 minutes, you saw that's how we wanted to play the game. We limited the shots. We limited the chance against. Our D were involved. That's how we want to play," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "We got on our heels in the third, we made it a little too easy on them, but overall, listen, our guys played hard. We did a lot of good things out there ... so we're happy about that."
And that goes for the players, too.
Eleven different players had at least one point, 18 had at least one hit, 12 had at least one blocked shot. They continue to rely on every single member of the organization. Esa Lindell played the most minutes at 23:42. Hanley played the least at 9:42. Joe Pavelski led the forwards in ice time at 18:00 minutes and won 62 percent of his faceoffs. Tyler Seguin logged 17:00 minutes and had six shot attempts.
It was a smorgasbord -- a delicious smorgasbord.
"I think that's just the makeup and identity of our team," Comeau said. "It's not just against Tampa, that's been our approach all playoffs. I think we're playing our best hockey when we're engaged emotionally, physically and getting in on the forecheck, and pressuring their D. When there's a chance to finish the hit, you finish the hit, and like I said, it's something that we got to continue to do, and it's what makes us successful as a team."

Team being the operative phrase. Khudobin was huge again. Oleksiak and Kiviranta are up to a surprising five goals each. But there seems to be a new hero every night, and that's kind of fun. Khudobin was awarding the team chain given to the player of the game as selected in the dressing room. He chose Hanley and gave him a big hug. Sitting on the bench next to Hanley was Taylor Fedun, the player that Hanley had replaced in the lineup.
That's a real team sentiment.
"That's how you win in the playoffs," Bowness said. "Joel Hanley, just couldn't be happier for him. Listen, this kid's given us a lot of good quality minutes, so I couldn't be happier for him that he gets a goal. That's what you need to win in the playoffs. You can't just focus on your top-end guys. You need contributions from everybody. Kivi's been doing that, for sure. Nice to see Dickie get on the board for us tonight.
"That's how you win in the playoffs -- contributions from guys you're not really looking at for offense, and all of the sudden, they just step up and make big-time plays. You look at Big Rig, couldn't be happier for Jamie. He's played fantastic hockey for us, gets the winning goal tonight.
"That's how you win in the playoffs. You get contributions from people that all of the sudden, they're jumping up and making you a better team."
It makes all the sense in the world when you watch it game after game.

Game 2: Stars vs. Lightning (Dallas leads 1-0)

Monday, 7 p.m. CT
Where:Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV:NBCSN
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.