Khudobin, Oleksiak among top performers for Stars in Game 1 of Cup Final

Who played well in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final? Sometimes it's easy to tell, sometimes it isn't. NHL.com graded players in the 4-1 victory by the Dallas Stars against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday that gave the Stars the lead in the best-of-7 series. Here are the players and trends that stood out the most.

RELATED: [Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]

Honor roll

Anton Khudobin (Stars) -- In his first Stanley Cup Final start, the goalie was outstanding making 35 saves on 36 shots, including all 22 he faced in the third period. Khudobin is 9-0 with a .934 save percentage in his past nine games he's made at least 30 saves. He had a few memorable saves in Game 1, but the best was a blocker catch -- yes, catch -- on Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli's shot to maintain a 2-1 lead with 3:47 remaining in the second period.

Jamie Oleksiak (Stars) -- The defenseman made the most of a second effort, knocking his own rebound past Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Dallas a 2-1 lead 12:30 into the second period. Oleksiak had six hits, tying forward Blake Comeau for the team high, and had a game-high six blocked shots.

Joel Hanley (Stars) -- The defenseman couldn't have picked a better time to score his first NHL goal. Hanley was in the high slot when he took a pass from forward Roope Hintz and gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 5:40 into the first period. The 29-year-old had eight points, all assists, in 46 regular-season games in five seasons, and one assist in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games entering Saturday.

Joel Kiviranta (Stars) -- With 28 seconds remaining in the second period, the forward scored to give the Stars a 3-1 lead. Kiviranta is the sixth rookie in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Final and first since Jon Sim against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of the 2000 Final. Kiviranta, who scored a hat trick in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Colorado Avalanche, has six points (five goals, one assist) in nine postseason games.

Yanni Gourde (Lightning) -- Sometimes it's all about being in the right place, and Gourde was when Blake Coleman's shot bounced off Khudobin, off Gourde's left skate and off Hintz's right skate to tie the game 1-1 at 12:32 of the first. Gourde's sixth goal of the postseason was his first in his past six games.

Stock watch

Stanley Cup (up) -- As the pregame presentation rolled ahead of Game 1, the Stanley Cup was brought out. It wasn't on display for the whole game, and it probably won't be seen again until an elimination game in this Final, but it was wonderful to see it.
Physical play (up) -- The lack of history between the Stars and Lightning didn't stop each from immediately bringing a physical game. The teams combined for 106 hits (56-50, Lightning), 48 of which came in the first period (25-23, Stars).
Tyler Seguin (down) -- The scoring struggles continue for the center, who hasn't scored a goal in 10 games since Game 3 of the second round. He had a great opportunity to end the drought on a power play at 1:48 of the second period after Alexander Radulov hit the post, but Vasilevskiy made a stick save on Seguin, who has one point, an assist, in his past 10 games.
Blake Coleman (down) -- The Lightning forward assisted on Gourde's goal in the first period but was called for two penalties, slashing and hooking, in the second. The Stars didn't score on either power play on a combined seven shots.
Brayden Point (down) -- He was outstanding in winning 11 of 13 face-offs (85 percent). But Point, who is second on the Lightning with 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in the postseason, did not have a shot on goal and was minus-3.

What we learned

Rest benefitted Stars
Dallas hadn't played since eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on Sept. 14, and looked fresher and more energetic from the start. Their strong puck management through the first and second periods led to extended time in the Lightning's zone and a 3-1 lead after the second.
Lightning found energy too late
The Lightning had little time to rest after eliminating the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference Final in overtime of Game 6 on Sept. 17, but played with urgency in the third period, when they had the first nine shots and outshot the Stars 22-2.