Stars get 2 quick goals in 3rd, defeat Lightning

TAMPA -- Matt Duchene and Roope Hintz scored 58 seconds apart in the third period for the Dallas Stars in a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Duchene gave the Stars a 3-2 lead at 6:55, taking a return pass from Tyler Seguin on a rush and roofing a shot over Andrei Vasilevskiy from below the right circle.

Hintz then extended the lead to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 7:53. He skated through the neutral zone with speed, got around Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak, and shot blocker side on a breakaway.

“I don’t think it was a great game for us until the third period,” Duchene said. “They are a really well-coached team, obviously. It’s no secret why they won the Cup twice. Our game is not quite where we want it to be. We had a goaltender steal it there for two periods for us and give us a chance. It had a playoff feel to it. There was not much room.”

Miro Heiskanen and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for the Stars (13-6-0), who have won five of six. Jake Oettinger made 27 saves.

“We got better as the game went on, and the third period was our best,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “We talked at the end of the second that we didn’t feel we had played our best yet, but we were in a 2-2 game and had a chance to really find another level there in the third and win an important game to start a road trip against a real good team.”

Anthony Cirelli scored twice for the Lightning (10-7-2), who were coming off a 7-6 overtime loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.

“One team waited for another team to make a mistake," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "They did, and the other team capitalized on it. And that was it. We blinked first and we lost.”

Cirelli gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 4:09 of the first period, burying the rebound of Brandon Hagel's sharp-angled shot in the low slot.

Dadonov tied it 1-1 at 6:05 when Ilya Lyubushkin's one-timer from the point deflected in off his skate near the left post.

Cirelli put the Lightning back in front 2-1 at 8:34. He got the rebound of his own redirection in the low slot, spun and tucked a shot past the right pad of Oettinger.

“They defended well, and maybe that's on us by not getting enough pucks to the net and some scrambles there to kind of break that down,” Cirelli said. “I thought we were better tonight (than Thursday), but still not good enough. It’s on us to be able to go out there and do what we’ve got to do for the full 60."

Heiskanen tied it 2-2 at 15:49 of the first, taking a cross-ice pass from Duchene and scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Vasilevskiy glove side.

“We’ve won a lot of games when we’re tied going into the third,” Oettinger said. “Guys needed to step up and make big plays, and we had a few of those.”

NOTES: Cirelli extended his goal streak to five games (six goals). ... Duchene has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past six games.