Gage Goncalves calmly skated down the ice before cutting in front of the net and shimmying his shoulders slightly. The move froze Casey DeSmith just long enough for the rookie to snap his shootout attempt into the back of the net to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 (SO) victory over the Dallas Stars. Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli scored in regulation while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves on 24 shots.
The first period was what one would expect with a plethora of 20+ goal scorers on the ice. There was action at both ends of the ice as the Stars used their transition speed to get a few good shots off the rush on Vasilevskiy, while the Lightning were countering with their own talent. Both goaltenders were busy making saves with Casey DeSmith somehow getting a piece of Gage Goncalves follow-up attempt with a mostly empty net after Nick Paul had cut to the front of the net with a nice power move.
The Lightning opened the scoring with a rush of their own as Nikita Kucherov slid a pass to Anthony Cirelli that had DeSmith thinking shot all the way, but Cirelli sent it back to the near post for an tap-in goal for Brandon Hagel with DeSmith completely out of the picture.
With the lead, the Lightning strung some nice shifts together, pinning the Stars in their own zone for a lengthy stretch of play. A snap-shot from the slot from Jake Guentzel had a screened DeSmith leaning the wrong way, but his right pad was in position to make the save.
Dallas was able to get back into the play after a heavy shift from big blueliner Lian Bichsel who flattened Zemgus Girgensons along the blue line, and then sent Oliver Bjorkstrand’s soul into the fifth row with a crushing hit in the corner.
Lian Bichsel with a complete demolecularization of Oliver Bjorkstrand.
— DavidCastilloAC (@davidcastillo.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 8:36 PM
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As one might imagine the hits, though legal, sparked a little animosity and Girgensons roughed it up with Bichsel after the whistle on his next shift. The two were sent off the ice for not playing nice, but not additional goals came out of the four-on-four.
More chances came rolling from both teams in the second period, and a big change of momentum came with the Stars on the power play. After Anthony Cirelli had extended the lead to two goals by putting home a rebound off of Hagel’s shot off of the rush, the Stars responded thirty-seven seconds later when Oskar Back tipped home a shot from the point.
An interference call on Victor Hedman put the Stars red-hot power play on the ice, but the Lightning were handling it fairly well. Hagel, who was having one of those games where he looks like a skate-wearing octopus and is all over the ice, broke up on a short-handed rush. DeSmith came out to challenge him, and was beat by Hagel, but Thomas Harley got there just in time to prevent a shot.
The play went down the other way and Mason Marchment poked home a loose puck in the crease to tie it up. From what could have been a 3-1 lead for the Bolts to a tied game with just one second left on the power play. Credit to the Lightning for killing off another power play (without allowing a shot on goal) right after the goal, but the momentum was fully in favor of the home team.
In the final frame, the Lightning had the better of the chances, but Casey DeSmith was there at every opportunity to make the stops the Stars needed. Tampa Bay put twelve of their twenty-two shot attempts on goal, and each of those seemed to be labeled for the back of the net until DeSmith got in the way. Much like he did in the first period, he was there to deny an absolute wicked wrister from Guentzel.
Even when they did beat him, the Lightning couldn’t score. Oliver Bjorkstrand’s quick snapper went over DeSmith’s shoulder, but caught the crossbar as the new Bolt continued to knock on the door, but can’t get in. Like they did in the first period, the Lightning spent much of the period in the Dallas zone, but just couldn’t follow up on their chances. Nick Paul did have a glorious opportunity in front of the net as a deflected puck came his way, but his sweeping shot caught just enough of the pad to stay out.
Defensively, the Lightning limited Dallas to just eight shots on goal, without many causing Vasilevskiy much concern. His best save came at the very end when an innocent shot from the point hit a stick in front of him and forced him to blocker it aside at the last moment. Unfortunately, a shot off of the ensuing face-off caught Ryan McDonagh up high in the ear/cheek area, and the Lightning’s most consistent defender skated off of the ice in extreme discomfort.
Both teams backed off the pedal a little with under three minutes to go as they focused on not making a mistake. Getting at least one point against a non-conference opponent is way more important than winning the game in regulation, so the Lightning and Stars seemed content to get to overtime.
There was some solid flow in the bonus frame with Tampa Bay generating all three shots on goal. Their best chance came from Cirelli after Hagel got away with a moving pick in the center of the ice, but DeSmith was able to deflect the shot out of play.
After watching the goaltenders duel for sixty-five minutes, it was pretty surprising to see the amount of goals the teams scored in the shootout. Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene recorded identical goals, beating Vasilevskiy through the five-hole. Jake Guentzel scored pretty much the same way for Tampa Bay, but Point was stopped. With a chance to end it, Wyatt Johnson’s shot was stopped by Vasy.
Nikita Kucherov wound his way down the ice at a glacial pace before snapping a shot past DeSmith. Vasilevskiy easily stopped Mikko Rantanen’s stop which set the scene for Goncalves’ game-winner.
The win allowed the Lightning to keep pace with Toronto and Florida as they both won.
The Goals
Brandon Hagel (Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov) 1-0 LIghtning
Anthony Cirelli (Brandon Hagel, Yanni Gourde) 2-0 Lightning
Oskar Back (Colin Blackwell, Sam Steel) 2-1 Lightning
Mason Marchment (Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene) Power Play, 2-2
The Charts
