National Hockey League
Dallas 8, Tampa Bay 1
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 2, 2023
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Referees: Beau Halkidis, Kiel Murchison
Linesmen: Ben O'Quinn, Kelly Sutherland
Attendance: 18532

Dallas' top three lines scored goals inside the first eight minutes as the Stars whipped the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning in an 8-1 rout Saturday afternoon.

Jason Robertson hit the net twice, and Joe Pavelski had a marker and two assists. Mason Marchment, Jamie Benn and Thomas Harley totaled a goal and an assist apiece. Tyler Seguin and Sam Steel also scored, while Jani Hakanpaa and Roope Hintz each posted two helpers.

Goaltender Jake Oettinger made 32 saves and won for just the second time in his past five starts (2-2-1).

In matching its season-high in goals, Dallas moved to 7-2-2 in its past 11 contests.

Victor Hedman recorded a power-play goal for Tampa Bay. Netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 of 25 shots and lost for the third time in four outings since his return from back surgery. Jonas Johansson allowed two goals on nine shots in the final period.

Pavelski and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov (assist) stretched their point streaks to nine games.

In the first of two meetings over three days, Dallas overwhelmed the Lightning with a three-goal, first-period onslaught.

After winning a faceoff in the right circle in the offensive end, Seguin skated through the slot and batted in a waist-high rebound off Marchment's shot just 61 seconds in for his eighth goal.

Robertson scored on a bad angle shot that rattled in off Vasilevskiy at 6:28. And just over a minute later, Benn got behind the Lightning defense on a breakaway and tallied his fifth for a 3-0 advantage.

That prompted a timeout from Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who ripped into his team for the poor defensive effort.

Tampa Bay then cut it to 3-1 after a double-minor high-sticking infraction on Miro Heiskanen.

Playing in his 999th game, Hedman pounded home his fifth tally on the front end of the consecutive power plays.

Marchment made it 4-1 in the second when he whipped in his seventh marker at 3.42.

Battling out front late in the last seconds of the Stars' first power play, Pavelski redirected his team-leading 11th goal off a shot by Harley. Robertson's second goal (eighth overall) pushed it to 6-1.

Harley and Steel rounded out the scoring in the final frame.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Tampa Bay   Dallas
Victor Hedman 1 Points Joe Pavelski 3
Victor Hedman 1 Goals Jason Robertson 2
Nikita Kucherov 1 Assists Joe Pavelski 2
Victor Hedman 1 Power Play Goals Jason Robertson 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jonas Johansson .778 Save Percentage Jake Oettinger .970
Andrei Vasilevskiy 19 Saves Jake Oettinger 32
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Tampa Bay 33 1 1-6 0-2 4 33
Dallas 34 8 2-2 5-6 12 27
Upcoming Games
  • Dallas will play their next game on the road against Tampa Bay. The Stars have a W/L % of .538 after a win and .778 after a loss.
  • Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against Dallas. The Lightning have a W/L % of .364 after a win and .429 after a loss.