TAMPA — With the regular season winding down and their spot in the playoffs already clinched, the Lightning still have something to play for.
While the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes get closer to clinching first place in the Central Division, the Lightning still can earn first-round home-ice advantage against their likely opponent, the Florida Panthers.
Against a Dallas Stars team with much more at stake Wednesday night, the Lightning’s 6-2 win at Amalie Arena tied them with the Panthers with 75 points, allowing them to control their own destiny. The Lightning (36-14-3) have a game in hand on the Panthers, and the teams will meet Saturday and Monday for their final two regular-season games.
Fifth-place Dallas remains in contention for a playoff spot, as Columbus beat fourth-place Nashville, but the Stars’ playoff hopes are faint after Wednesday’s loss.
Meanwhile, the Lightning extended their point streak to seven games, going 6-0-1 over that stretch.
Tampa Bay withstood a third-period charge from Dallas (21-18-14), which cut the Tampa Bay lead to 3-2 on Andrej Sekera’s goal with 9:16 remaining on a shot from the right point that deflected off Brayden Point’s stick and fooled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
“They’re on life support regarding the playoffs,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the Stars. “They’re a proud team, they came out and pushed in the third.”
But Tampa Bay quickly responded on the next shift with the relentless third line of Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. They took the puck into the Dallas zone, and defenseman Erik Cernak’s shot from the right point jetted past a Gourde screen in front of the net and past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger just 50 seconds after Sekera’s goal, giving the Lightning a two-goal cushion at 4-2.
“When you think about playoff series and stuff, there’s gonna be ups and downs,” said Lightning forward Alex Killorn. “They score a goal, I think it hits off Pointer’s stick. It’s one of those that you’d like to have back. But I think the way we responded was great. That line, Coleman, Gordo and Goodrow, they’ve been really good for us and they find a way. But Cernak was unbelievable tonight.”
Cernak added two assists, giving him a career-high three points on the night.
Ross Colton scored an empty-net goal with 3:13 remaining. Mikhail Sergachev added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Vasilevskiy, making his first start since receiving back-to-back games off this past weekend in Detroit, had 20 saves en route to his league-leading 31th win of the season.
The Lightning scored two goals in the final four minutes of the second period, including Point’s team-leading 23rd goal of the season with 14 seconds remaining in the period.
Point stole the puck from Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell deep in the Stars’ zone and juked Oettinger, pulling the puck back to avoid his stick check and tucking the puck behind him on the backdoor side.
After the Lightning started 0-for-3 on the power play, Killorn scored on the man advantage with 3:21 left in the second. The goal was the 146th of his career, passing Fredrik Modin to move into seventh place on the Lightning’s all-time list.
Tyler Johnson snapped a 21-game goal drought, scoring the night’s first goal 2:14 into the game.
The Lightning took advantage of a Dallas turnover in the neutral zone, as well as a lucky bounce. Killorn’s pass intended for Anthony Cirelli went off a Dallas player’s skate and toward Johnson, who was trailing the play above the slot.
The deflection gifted a great look for Johnson, whose wrist shot from the high slot beat Oettinger glove side inside the near post.
Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieInTheYard.
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