Tampa Bay @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 19, 2019 ) Dallas 4, Tampa Bay 3

The Tampa Bay Lightning aim to continue their surge after a long layoff when they begin a four-game trip Monday night against the Dallas Stars, who needed the All-Star break to assess their recent slump. The Lightning have won 12 of their last 14 games to bulldoze their way into second place in the Atlantic Division, capped by a 7-1 destruction of Winnipeg on Jan. 17.

“We knew Christmas to the All-Star break (13 games, 21 days) was going to be a grind for us,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “You just hope that the practice you put in up to that point is going to pay off. … and it did. We’ve gotten contributions from everyone. … The big picture is we weren’t in a playoff spot before the run and now we are, and now we just have to build on this game for the last half of the season.” The Lightning coughed up a two-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime setback to Dallas in the first meeting on Dec. 19 and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has not lost since, winning 10 in a row to close within one of Louis Domingue’s franchise record (2018-19). The Stars hold down third place in the Central Division after dropping three of their last four, including a baffling 7-0 loss to Minnesota on Jan. 18 that left a sour taste going into the All-Star break. “We looked like a team that had never played together before,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness told reporters after the debacle. “We all did something wrong. … Did we see that coming? No, so it’s pretty hard to describe what we just saw.”

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: NBC Sports Network, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet West

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (29-15-4): Vasilevskiy was struggling the last time he saw Dallas, but has turned things around to take over the league lead in wins (24) and post a 7-0-0 record with a .962 save percentage in January. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov has seized the team lead with 22 goals after scoring five times in the last three games and tops the club with 54 points - six more than captain Steven Stamkos, who boasts four in the last three contests. Center Anthony Cirelli recorded his first career hat trick in the victory at Winnipeg and registered six of his 33 points in the past three games.

ABOUT THE STARS (27-17-4): The top scorers have gone a bit cold of late as All-Star center Tyler Seguin has just four assists and a minus-4 rating in eight January contests while right wing Alexander Radulov was kept off the scoresheet in the past four games. Dallas will need more from forward Jamie Benn in the final 34 games as the captain is on pace for the worst full season of his career with just 12 goals and 11 assists through the first 48 contests. Ben Bishop (16-10-3), second in all-time wins for Tampa Bay behind Vasilevskiy, lost his last two games before the break but owns a .939 save percentage over his past six outings.

OVERTIME

1. Dallas D Stephen Johns had two shots and two hits in 18 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time on Jan. 18 after a near-22 month absence due to a head injury.

2. Tampa Bay LW Alex Killorn is second on the team with a career-high 20 goals, surpassing the 19 he netted in 2016-17 and reaching 300 points.

3. Stars D Miro Heiskanen missed the final game before the break due to a concussion and he is considered day-to-day.

PREDICTION: Stars 3, Lightning 2