Stars vs. Lightning
7:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS
Best-of-7 series
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars will try to build on series-clinching overtime wins in the conference finals when they play Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday.
The Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in overtime of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday to advance to the Cup Final for the first time since 2015, when they lost in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks.
“You don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get at this thing,” Lightning forward Alex Killorn said. “We look forward to the challenge and doing everything we can to make sure we get it this year.”
The Stars advanced to the Cup Final for the first time since 2000 by rallying from two goals down in the third period to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime of Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on Monday.
“Every single guy here has made their own sacrifices, and we’ve made sacrifices as a group,” Stars center Tyler Seguin said. “We want to take advantage of it.”
Here are 3 keys to Game 1:
1. Special teams
The Stars, at least on paper, have an edge in special teams because of their power play. They are 27.3 percent with the man-advantage this postseason and 83.3 percent on the penalty kill.
The Lightning are 17.9 percent on the power play, including 1-for-15 in their past five games, and 83.6 percent on the penalty kill.
The Stars have to be careful not to let the Lightning power play get too many chances. Dallas was shorthanded 22 times in five games against Vegas and allowed three goals (86.4 percent).
Tampa Bay was 17-for-19 on the penalty kill (89.5 percent) against New York.
2. Khudobin vs. Vasilevskiy
Stars goalie Anton Khudobin is 9-2-0 this postseason in games when he has faced at least 30 shots on goal. The Lightning had at least 30 shots on goal in 12 of their 16 games in the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including in each of the past four.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has arguably been the best at the position in the postseason; he is 14-5-0 with a .931 save percentage and 1.82 goals-against average. He has allowed two goals or fewer in three straight starts and eight of his past nine.
3. Offense from defense
The Stars and Lighting are first and second in the playoffs in scoring by defensemen.
Dallas has 53 points (13 goals, 40 assists) in 21 games from its defensemen, including 22 (five goals, 17 assists) from Miro Heiskanen, who leads the postseason at the position.
Tampa Bay has 46 points (13 goals, 33 assists) in 19 games from its defensemen, including nine goals from Victor Hedman, which tied Paul Coffey (1985) for the most scored by a defenseman before the Cup Final.
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
Lightning projected lineup
Ondrej Palat — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Anthony Cirelli — Tyler Johnson
Barclay Goodrow — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Pat Maroon — Cedric Paquette
Victor Hedman — Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan McDonagh — Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev — Erik Cernak
Luke Schenn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Carter Verhaeghe, Mathieu Joseph, Mitchell Stephens, Alexander Volkov, Braydon Coburn, Scott Wedgewood
Unfit to play: Jan Rutta, Steven Stamkos
Status report
There was no update on Faksa, who missed the last two games of the Western Conference Final. … Stamkos is unlikely to play in Game 1 but hasn’t been ruled out for the series, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said. The center hasn’t played in the postseason because of a lower-body injury.
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