Saturday night Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars will be played at the Rogers Place in Edmonton. Tampa Bay hopes to end the season after almost two months of playoff action by winning the Stanley Cup, while the Stars will try to force a sixth game in this series.
Tampa Bay Lightning: on the verge of the cup
Tampa Bay Lightning has experience playing the Stanley Cup Final over the past decade. In the 2014-2015 season, the ice hockey team fell against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Cup Final. This season, however, after almost two months of blood, sweat and tears, the Bolts can win the Stanley Cup on Saturday night for the first time since the 2003-2004 season.
Last night the Lightning won the third straight game against the Dallas Stars. The Stars thought they would be 2-0 up after the first period, but Brayden Point made it 2-1 with 33 seconds to go at the end of the period after a fabulous pass from Ondrej Palat. Point tied things up early in the second period when the Bolts were on the power play. With that equalizer the forward is now leading the NHL in the postseason with 13 goals. Game 4 went to overtime, representing the first contest of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final to need OT. Kevin Shattenkirk scored the overtime game-winner and brought the Lightning one game away of the championship.
Dallas Stars: face elimintation
Last season it was the St. Louis Blues that won the Stanley Cup out of nowhere. The Dallas Stars hope to follow in the footsteps of the reigning champions in this year's postseason, but know that they are facing an incredibly difficult task. They are 1-3 behind in the series so they need to win three times in a row to lift the Cup. It is likely that Dallas will struggle mentally after the lost game via overtime last night against the Lightning.
The Dallas Stars were up 2-0 in the first period thanks to John Klingberg and top scorer Joe Pavelski, but Tampa Bay were able to get back in the game. The Stars blew another lead in the second period and lost the game via overtime eventually so they now have their backs against the wall. While Anton Khudobin had a big part in the elimination of the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights with strong performances, the goalie has a tough time in the series against the Bolts. In the last two games, he had gave up ten goals.
Tampa Bay in regulation
The Dallas Stars blew a lead multiple times last night and are facing the almost impossible task of bending a 1-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup final in the second half of back-to-back matches. First, they need to force Game 6 Saturday night, although I expect Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup tonight. The Bolts are effective on the power play, have the mental advantage after yesterday's overtime win. While the Stars look done, Khudobin played on a high level for almost three weeks, but fatigue now seems to strike at the wrong time for him. Because of Ben Bishop's injury there is actually no other option for head coach Rick Bowness to fall back on in net.
