Streaks will collide when Tampa Bay Lightning Eye a third victory in a row Thursday evening against Dallas Stars, who will look for a ninth straight home victory.
Tampa Bay (39-23-5, 83 points) is fighting for home ice benefit in the first round of the Eastern Conference the playoffs with an opportunity to finish in first place in the Atlantic Division.
Since January 30, Lightning is 13-3-2 and has earned five points in each of the last three games.
“Regular season is about ups and downs, so there are basically 82 preparations for the playoffs,” said Blixten’s goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Dallas (43-21-3, 89 points) is second in the central division, while holding the second most points in the Western conference. On the heel of a 1-2-1 trip, the stars got a 4-3 home victory on overtime over Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
The stars are bound for the longest at home line in Dalla’s history.
“We are a veteran team here,” said Stars defender Thomas Harley, who had a goal with two assists against the ducks.
“We know that if we play our game we will have a chance to win each game.”
Lightnings Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel scored each goal in a 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday. The duo now has a combined for 62 goals. Vasilevskiy made 22 rescues for his fifth suspension of the season.
Tampa Bay has allowed two total goals to win two straight after giving up 17 in the previous four competitions.
“We sit in a good place here for the stretch run,” said Tampa Bay defender Ryan McDonagh.
“We just want to build our game to as close to 60 minutes as we can here, and each game will be more intense and more significant here for us.”
The intensity level can be high Thursday in Dallas, where the stars are 25-7-1 and have not lost since January 21. Dallas has also scored more than three goals seven times during his eight-game home and won half of these competitions with one goal.
“We just have to keep working,” said Harley, who has two goals with 10 assists during the last seven home games.
Matt Duchene had a goal with an assist and Roope Hintz also scored when Dallas counted twice during the third period of a 4-2 victory in Tampa Bay on November 23.
Kucherov and Guentzel were each empty in that competition, but teammate Anthony Cirlli did twice against the stars. Cirelli has secured a second straight season with at least 20 goals and assists, but he has been held without points in eight of his last nine competitions.
Vasilevskiy (2.24 goal-towards the average) allowed six goals during its last start at Dallas, an 8-1 lightning loss on December 2, 2023. Backup Jonas Johansson (3.12 goal-for average) has never started the stars.
Dallas’ Jake Oettinger (2.55 goals-against the average) made 27 rescues in Tampa Bay earlier this season. Stars Backup Casey Desmith has a 2.01 goal-to average and .931 Savings percentage during a six-start victory.
With two assists Tuesday, Hintz has recorded five straight home games with multiple points (two goals, 13 assists).
-Field level media
