Steven Stamkos scores pair, but Lightning fall to Stars 3-2 in OT

DALLAS (AP) — Jamie Benn scored his second goal 2:07 into overtime and the Dallas Stars beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Monday night.

Steven Stamkos had both goals for Tampa Bay, including the tying score with 1:26 left in regulation.

Benn got the winner after a turnover by Brayden Point, who then appeared to grab the Stars captain from behind before his backhander past All-Star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Vasilevskiy is 11-0-2 in his last 13 decisions, including Tampa Bay’s 4-3 overtime loss at home to the Stars on Dec. 19. He had won his last 10 games, one short of the franchise record.

Benn, who put the Stars up 2-1 on another backhander midway through the third period, finished with his second two-goal game this season and has 14 goals overall.

It was the first game in nine days for the Stars, whose last game before the All-Star break and bye week came a day after Tampa Bay had last played.

Ben Bishop, who Vasilevskiy passed last month for the most games in goal for Tampa Bay, stopped 23 shots. Vasilevskiy had 32 saves.

In the third period, Benn was skating alone when he cut across the front of the goalie and pushed the puck inside the right post for a 2-1 lead.

Tampa Bay had an extra skater with Vasilveskiy off the ice when Stamkos scored his 20th goal, a one-timer from the middle of the left circle to tie it.

Stamkos deflected a flying puck past Bishop in the second period after Nikita Kucherov‘s shot from just inside the blue line with the Dallas goalie shielded by traffic.

The Lightning missed a chance to extend the lead on a power play, after Corey Perry was penalized for interference when he got tangled up with Vasilevskiy and both went down on the ice.

Dallas tied the game at 1 soon after getting back to even strength. Denis Gurianov charged toward the net after taking a pass from All-Star center Tyler Seguin and scored his 12th goal.

NOTES: Stars D Stephen Johns had almost 14 minutes of ice time in his first home game since March 2018. He missed all of last season because of post-traumatic headaches, and he had only played in the 7-0 loss at Minnesota in the last game before the break. … There was a pregame moment of silence for Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday. The arena is also home of the NBA’s Mavericks, and owner Mark Cuban has said no Dallas player will ever again wear No. 24. … Stars Fs Roope Hintz (upper body) and Andrew Cogliano (lower body) didn’t return to the game after injuries. Hintz skated only one shift in the first period. Cogliano was on the ice for nearly seven minutes over 12 shifts the first two periods.