Stars defeat Lightning in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

Anton Khudobin made 22 of his 35 saves in the third period, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday.

"He made some huge saves at the right moments," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "You know you're on your heels a little bit, and with their elite-level offensive skills, you know they're going to get some chances. You don't want to give them a goal at the wrong time and you need a big save at the right time. Anton certainly did that for us tonight."
Joel Hanley
scored his first NHL goal, and Jamie Oleksiak and Joel Kiviranta each scored his fifth of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Dallas.
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Lightning highlights]
Yanni Gourde scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves for the Lightning, who outshot the Stars 22-2 in the third period.
"We have to do a lot more than what we just did in the third," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "I don't even know if you need to take a shower after the first two periods. … We just didn't have our legs, and clearly it showed. We're going to have to make it a little tougher on their goalie if we're going to score."
Since the Stanley Cup Final went to a best-of-7 format in 1939, the team that wins Game 1 is 61-19 winning the series (76.3 percent).
Game 2 is in Edmonton, the hub city for the Cup Final, on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We wanted to go out and enjoy the moment, have fun," Stars forward Blake Comeau said. "We didn't want to play uptight, and I thought we did a good job, especially in the first two periods, of sticking with what we had to do to be successful."

Khudobin is 9-0 with a .934 save percentage in the past nine games when he has made at least 30 saves.
"I try to focus on the next shot," he said. "How [many] it's going to be, I don't really think about it. Just try to do my job."
He is 13-6-0 with a .923 save percentage and 2.54 goals-against average this postseason.
"When he's on, which he was tonight, he's reading the play, so he's getting there and anticipating the shot," Bowness said. "He's not late. He's not chasing the game around. He's focused on where it's coming from and he's meeting the puck."
Hanley gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 5:40 of the first period, scoring with a high blocker-side shot from between the circles off a pass from behind the net by Roope Hintz. It was his first goal in 54 NHL games (regular and postseason).
Hanley is the first defenseman since 1991 to score his first NHL goal in the Stanley Cup Final and the fifth in history (since 1927). Jim Paek of the Pittsburgh Penguins scored his first NHL goal in Game 6 of the 1991 Final against the Minnesota North Stars.
"When Roope passed it, I don't know if I lifted my head up or not, I don't know what it looks like on camera, but I just tried to pick a corner and shoot it as hard as I could," Hanley said. "It was lucky enough to go in."
The Lightning allowed the first goal for a sixth straight game; they are 3-3 in those games.
"It's always tough playing from behind, especially against teams like Dallas who's very good defensively," Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson said. "The first goal is huge. It's not the end of the world, but at the same time it's way easier to play with a lead than trying to obtain it."
The Lightning made it 1-1 at 12:32 of the first, when Gourde scored after the puck pinballed off his left skate and Hintz's right skate before going into the net.
Oleksiak scored for a 2-1 lead at 12:30 of the second period, scoring off his own rebound from the bottom of the left circle after Vasilevskiy saved the initial shot with his blocker.

Kiviranta extended the lead to 3-1 at 19:32, scoring after his shot was blocked by Mikhail Sergachev.
Kiviranta had a hat trick, including the overtime goal, in Game 7 of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche, and the game-tying goal in the third period of the series-ending overtime win in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
"I don't know what's going on, sometimes it's like wherever you shoot the puck it goes in," Kiviranta said. "Now I'm feeling that."
Jason Dickinson scored an empty-net goal at 18:42 for the 4-1 final.
"Don't discredit the way we played in the third; we did push, and they defended," Cooper said. "I don't anticipate periods are going to go like that the rest of the way through. You play differently when you have the lead, bottom line. Their goal, I'm sure, was not to statistically have it go that way, but their goal is to win the game and that's what they did."