Lightning down Stars

DALLAS — Andrei Vasilevskiy’s second shutout in a week came with a little help from his friends on the penalty kill.

The goaltender stopped 35 shots while helping to stifle six Dallas Stars power plays, and Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.

Vasilevskiy improved to 10-2-1 since his return from injury, posting his third shutout this season and the 15th of his career for the Lightning, who have an NHL-best 74 points.

Four of the Dallas power-play chances came in the second period with Vasilevskiy protecting a 1-0 lead.

“It’s frustration first, and then you get energy after that,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

“Guys were frustrated a little bit with the amount of calls that were going against us, but they’re penalties. You’ve got to kill them off, and that’s what we did.”

Palat gave Tampa Bay a first-period lead with his seventh goal, sending a shot over the glove of Anton Khudobin on a pass from Steven Stamkos, who got his 29th assist. Khudobin had 19 saves.

Sergachev scored a 4-on-4 goal midway through the third period after Dallas captain Jamie Benn canceled out a Tampa Bay penalty for the second time. Benn was called for tripping just 13 seconds after the same penalty against the Lightning›s Mathieu Joseph.

The Stars had one more chance with the man advantage when Vasilevskiy was called for tripping with less than five minutes remaining.

But Dallas could only get three shots from the perimeter in its third straight loss.

“Guys felt good about their games during the game, and that’s why they’re so frustrated afterward because they know they had good looks and good chances,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “When you have a lot of good chances, it frustrates you more.”