Dallas @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 14, 2019 ) Dallas 0, Tampa Bay 6

Anthony Cirelli has become one of the most dependable players on both ends of the ice for Tampa Bay, and the 22-year-old center hopes to follow up a heroic performance with another strong effort when the Lightning host the Dallas Stars on Thursday. Cirelli split two defenders and scored on a breakaway while falling with 19 seconds left in overtime to give Tampa Bay a much-needed 4-3 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday.

“He willed us to two points tonight, that’s what he did,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters of Cirelli, who has seven goals, 22 points and a plus-4 rating. “What a burst. … To have that energy in the 64th minute of the game, that was pretty impressive. But we’ve been getting that out of him since the day he joined this team.” Cirelli had a goal and an assist at Dallas in his NHL debut March 1, 2018 before posting two assists as Tampa Bay earned two shutouts against the Stars last season to extend its winning streak in the series to five games. Dallas holds a playoff position in the Western Conference despite sitting fifth from the bottom of the league in scoring (2.57) and have managed to record more than three goals only once in the past 10 games after a 2-1 loss to Edmonton at home on Monday. “Some nights they’re going through and some nights, they’re not,” Stars interim coach Rick Bowness, a former assistant with the Lightning, told reporters. “The important thing is to keep creating chances. … We can control when to shoot the puck, that’s the biggest thing. If he stops it, he stops it. We just have to make sure we’re creating those 15-18 scoring chances a night.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE STARS (19-12-4): Tyler Seguin snapped an 11-game drought with his seventh goal Monday and the 27-year-old center leads the team with 26 points. “I don’t stress too much about it, but obviously, want to produce and just been the assist man as of late,” Seguin told reporters after the loss. “Nice to get one, wish I could have got another one there in the last minute or so.” Right wing Alexander Radulov is second on the team with 22 points after making the scoresheet in five straight outings with a goal and six assists while Joe Pavelski notched his third point in six contests Monday after a nine-game drought.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (17-12-3): Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov (199 career goals), who leads the team with 35 points, was benched in the third period Tuesday after an egregious turnover led to Ottawa’s tying goal in the second. “We were making decisions and that was what was best for us to win tonight,” Cooper told reporters. “(Kucherov is) a huge part of our team. … it could’ve been anybody. As a group, we put ourselves in this position. We wanted to win this game tonight and this is what we’re going with.” Center Brayden Point has goals in three straight games to tie captain Steven Stamkos for the team lead with 13.

OVERTIME

1. Dallas G Ben Bishop (12-7-3, .933 save percentage) allowed two or fewer goals in seven of his past eight games.

2. Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy, who recently passed Bishop for most wins in franchise history, is 5-0-1 lifetime versus Dallas.

3. The Stars have killed off 20-of-21 power plays in the last seven games and are third in the league at 85.5 percent.

PREDICTION: Stars 3, Lightning 2