Stars, Lightning all even at 1-1
A Nikita Kucherov card. |
In the NHL’s
best-of-seven championship series between the Dallas Stars and the Tampa Bay
Lightning being played at Rogers Place in the bubble city of Edmonton, momentum
seems to enjoy jumping from side to side in the first two games of the set.
The series
is tied 1-1 after the Stars took Game 1 by a 4-1 final on Saturday and the
Lightning rebounded with a 3-2 victory in Game 2 on Monday.
Game 3 of
the series is set for Wednesday (6 p.m. Saskatchewan time, CBC and NBCSN).
The Stars 4-1
triumph in Game 1 was a solid one, but it appeared Tampa Bay might be able to
rally in the third. Entering the third period trailing 3-1, the Lightning had a
22-2 edge in shots on goal in the frame as they pressed to get back in that
game.
Stars
centre Jason Dickinson sealed that contest with an empty-net goal with 78
seconds remaining in the third.
In Game 2
on Monday, both teams played a quiet opening 10 minutes before the Lightning
exploded for three goals to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
A John Klingberg card. |
After that
tally, Kucherov proceeded to set up left-winger Ondrej Palat on a backdoor
feed, and Palat potted his team’s second power-play goal of the contest to give
the Lightning a 2-0 edge at the 14:22 mark of the opening frame.
Lightning
skilled offensive-defenceman Victor Hedman also had assists on both of those
first two goals.
Just 54
seconds later, solid defender Kevin Shattenkirk slid home the Lightning’s third
goal from the point through a screen to increase Tampa Bay’s advantage to 3-0.
On top of
holding a 3-0 lead, the Lightning held a 14-6 edge in shots on goal after 20
minutes, and it looked like they were going to roll like an unstoppable freight
train.
Despite
Tampa Bay’s great start, Dallas controlled the second period holding an 18-5
edge in shots on goal.
At the
14:43 mark of the second, the Stars gained some traction, when centre Joe
Pavelski tipped home a point shot from defenceman John Klingberg for a
power-play goal to cut the Tampa Bay lead to 3-1.
An Ondrej Palat card. |
Right-winger Alexander Radulov had assists on both Stars goals.
Tampa Bay
appeared to go ahead 4-2 near the midway point of the third on a goal by
defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. The goal was disallowed after Dallas challenged
that the play was offside via video review and the video review confirmed the
play was indeed offside.
While the
Lightning held a 12-5 edge in shots on goal in the third, the Stars chances to
get the game to overtime.
With a
minute remaining in the third, Stars veteran left-winger Jamie Benn was stopped
from point-blank range in front of the Tampa Bay goal by Lightning netminder Andrei
Vasilevskiy.
The Stars
also had an offensive zone faceoff with 3.8 seconds remaining in the third, but
Klingberg fanned on one final shot, which was ultimately blocked by a Lightning
skater.
Vasilevskiy
made 27 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Lightning. Anton Khudobin
turned away 28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars.
An Alexander Radulov card. |
With the way
the momentum has swung, credit has to go to Stars head coach Rick Bowness and Lightning
head coach Jon Cooper for the adjustments they’ve made on the fly.
Wednesday’s upcoming Game 3 might be a big swing game.
The team that falls in that contest
will face more pressure than usual to win in Game 4 on Friday, because Game 5
follows up quickly one day later.
If either
team falls behind 3-1 in the series, it might be hard to recover and win Game 5
with no off day between that contest and Game 4.
So far, the Stars and Lightning are giving a series that is well worth tuning for.
Expect
the momentum swings to continue as the Stanley Cup final goes on.
Massive outpouring for Ashe showed he was well
loved
Dylan Ashe. (Photo courtesy Della Ashe) |
Early Sunday morning, 18-year-old Melfort Mustangs junior A team defenceman Dylan Ashe died in
a single vehicle rollover on Highway 35 northeast of White Fox, Sask. Ashe was
driving one of his family’s cars as his beloved 1984 Chevy truck parked for
some repairs.
For anyone
who has links to Saskatchewan’s hockey community, you knew that the news of
Ashe’s passing was going to hit a lot of people hard. He was really well loved
in Saskatchewan’s hockey community and in the hockey community of Lethbridge,
Alta., as he was a prospects of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Della Ashe,
Dylan’s mom, broke the news of her son’s passing on a Facebook post on Sunday
afternoon. Dylan had been driving out the lake country for a quick visit before
returning home. He was planning to travel to Melfort on Tuesday to rejoin the
Mustangs.
Since the
creation of Della’s post, support and condolences messages have poured in for
the family that is based out of Warman, Sask.
Numerous
media outlets in Saskatchewan have produced tribute stories for Dylan Ashe.
Ashe played
for the Sask Valley Vipers under-15 AA team in 2016-17 before splitting time in
2017-18 with his hometown Warman Wildcats under-18 AA team and the Tisdale
Trojans under-18 AAA club.
He played
for the Trojans for the entire 2018-19 campaign outside of a one-game call up
with the Mustangs for an SJHL regular season contest. Ashe helped the Trojans
win a bronze medal at the Telus Cup.
Ashe, who
stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 185 pounds, was never selected in the WHL Bantam
Draft, but he still signed a WHL Standard Player Agreement with the Hurricanes
on April 10, 2019. He had a strong showing in training camp with the Hurricanes
prior to the 2019-20 campaign before joining the Mustangs.
With the
Mustangs last season, Ashe had two goals and four assists in 46 regular season
games.
The Mustangs are sad to announce the passing of Defenceman Dylan Ashe. From our entire organization we would like to send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Ashe family. You are in our thoughts and prayers. 💙💚 pic.twitter.com/efly9aDdwT
— Melfort Mustangs (@SJHL_Mustangs) September 20, 2020
On the ice,
Ashe was known as a tough stay at home defensive defenceman. He was also a
quiet but upbeat great character guy. He could walk into a room, flash his
smile and the positive energy would go up.
The
Trojans, Mustangs and Hurricanes have all passed on messages of condolence.
Della and
her husband, Mike, have received numerous messages about how great of a person
Dylan was.
Dylan cared
a lot for his family, and he enjoyed hanging out with older sister Jordan, who
was a tough as nails defensive defender with the Prince Albert Northern Bears female
under-18 AAA hockey team from 2013 to 2018.
Dylan Ashe
just graduated from high school this past June. He got to parade in his 1984
Chevy truck through the Wyant Group Raceway with Warman High School grad class.
The track hosted the unique graduation ceremony as the coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic restrictions placed limits on regular graduation activities.
Ashe spent
countless hours working on and refurbishing his 1984 Chevy truck.
His passing
at age 18 and about two-and-a-half months since his high school graduation is a
reminder of how life can be unfair. He should have been able to live out a rich
array of experiences.
Over the
next handful of years, he seemed ready to live out a few more of his hockey
dreams.
Still, he
was able to make a lot of people care about him for the years that he was here.
The outpouring of emotions and messages since his passing is proof of that.
A GoFundMe
campaign that was started on Sunday to help the Ashe family with funeral
expenses has raised over triple its initial goal by late Monday night.
Dylan Ashe lived life on his own terms, and it was a well lived one.
We are saddened to learn of the passing of Hurricanes prospect, Dylan Ashe. Our deepest condolences to Dylan’s family, friends, and teammates. Rest In Peace, Dylan. ❤️💙 #AlwaysACane pic.twitter.com/vyDHxY9Nsn
— Lethbridge Hurricanes (@WHLHurricanes) September 20, 2020
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe campaign to help the Ashe family with funeral expenses, you can do so by clicking right here.
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