preseason Cup favorites<\/a>, has one of the more prolific offenses in the NHL, and Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point currently lead all players in playoff points with 26 and 25, respectively. True to their name, the Lightning can strike quickly, as they showed in their 8-2 romp over the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals earlier this month.<\/p>\nAnd they\u2019ve continued the offensive production even without captain Steven Stamkos, who has missed the entire playoffs so far with a lower-body injury. Stamkos, who was second on the team in points in the regular season, is with the team and has skated. But team officials are closed-lipped on any potential return.<\/p>\n
They can also play defense. Andrei Vasilevskiy will be between the pipes for Tampa Bay, and he\u2019s posted a strong 1.82 goals-against average this postseason.<\/p>\n
Stars Get Rest Before Stanley Cup Final<\/h2>\n
When play ended in March, Dallas found itself among the top four teams in the Western Conference. But it ranked among the worst teams in the league with a paltry 178 goals in 69 games. By comparison, Tampa Bay led the NHL with 243 in 70 games before COVID-19 forced the teams off the ice.<\/p>\n
Dallas comes into the Final the more-rested team. They got five days off after dispatching the Vegas Golden Knights in five conference final games.<\/p>\n
Coach Rick Bowness said his team needed the rest before the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n
“We had some guys, they’re banged up and they’re tired,\u201d he said. \u201cBut speaking with a couple of veterans today, they’re ready to get playing again.”<\/p>\n
Somehow, Dallas has advanced despite being outscored in the playoffs and seeding games by 62-64. They\u2019re led by defenseman Miro Heiskanen, whose 22 points lead all blueliners in the postseason.<\/p>\n
The Stars have also gotten some strong play from rookie right wing Denis Gurianov. He scored a team-high 20 goals in the regular season. However, he only ranked eighth on the team in points with 29. Howe\u2019s upped his performance in Edmonton, as he\u2019s picked up 17 points in 21 games to lead all rookies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After nearly two months since play resumed in the NHL, we\u2019re finally down to two teams left. The Dallas Stars and the Tampa Bay Lightning will square off in the Stanley Cup Final starting Saturday night. The best-of-seven series, like the conference finals that preceded it, will take place at Rogers Place in Edmonton. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":149404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Stanley Cup Preview: Veteran Lightning the Favorites to Win, Face Stars<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n