Tampa Bay Lightning Defeat Dallas Stars 3-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

“And the series is even. The best of seven is a best of five.” – Doc Emrick

“What a game. It had everything…we got ourselves a series.” – Eddie Olczyk

“After having a shaky Game 1…it’s been a good bounce back outing for the Tampa Bay netminder.” – Brian Boucher on Lightning Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy

STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 21, 2020 – NBC Sports continued its exclusive presentation of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final tonight with Game 2 between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on NBCSN. All Stanley Cup Final games are being played at Rogers Place.

Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Brian Boucher called the game along with Pierre McGuire providing reports and player interviews. Olczyk, Boucher and McGuire were on site at Rogers Place, while Emrick called the action from a home studio. Kathryn Tappen, Keith Jones, Anson Carter and Patrick Sharp provided studio commentary during intermissions from NBC Sports’ headquarters in Stamford, Conn. John Forslund also provided commentary from Rogers Place during pre-game coverage.

Following are notes and quotes from Game 2:

THIRD PERIOD & POST-GAME

Emrick: “And the series is even. The best of seven is a best of five.”

Olczyk: “What a game. It had everything, did it not, Doc? It had big hits, bad penalties by Dallas to put them behind the eight ball and you had tremendous goaltending at either end. Outstanding efforts to put the puck in the back of the net. We got ourselves a series.”

Boucher on Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy: “(After) having a shaky Game 1, he needed to stand tall and he certainly did in the second period. Even though he gave up a goal on one of those 18 shots, I think several of his saves allowed his team to remain with the lead and it’s been a good bounce back outing for the Tampa Bay netminder.”

Olczyk on Dallas’ inability to pull the goalie late in the game: “Tampa just absolutely smothering the Dallas Stars as they exit the zone.”

Olczyk on C Mattias Janmark’s goal, 3-2 Lightning: “He goes to the net, stops on the blue paint and he has a strong, bottom handle on the stick. You go to that area, you’re going to get five free goals every year you play. And what a pass, a brilliant pass by (John) Klingberg.”

Carter: “If anyone came into tonight’s game thinking it was going to be a short series, they were mistaken. Tampa Bay responded exactly how I thought they would respond…both teams punched and counterpunched, and that’s what you expect to see in a Stanley Cup Final.”

Sharp: “That was a good hockey game. We saw some power-play goals from the Lightning earlier, some beautiful plays from Nikita Kucherov, some saves from both goaltenders, some bad blood, a lot of big hits. It’s shaping up to be a pretty good series.”

Jones: “The fight back from the Dallas Stars really stood out to me. I thought Tampa was going to run away with the game. I wondered if (Anton) Khudobin would even start the second period. Dallas left him in there and Tampa found a way to win a hockey game where I don’t think they necessarily played a great game. I think they played a great first period, but there’s more in the tank for Tampa in this series.”

SECOND INTERMISSION

Sharp on Stars’ response in second period: “I liked how they responded at the start of the second period being down 3-0. Nowhere in the playoff handbook does it say just because you’re down three goals in a playoff game that you have to go away nicely…they are angry…it was scrums, it was physical play, it was getting under the skin of the Tampa Bay Lightning.”

SECOND PERIOD

Emrick: “First period impressive for Tampa Bay. Second period impressive for Dallas…it’s been crunching, scuffling and artistic.”

Boucher on Dallas C Joe Pavelski’s deflected goal, 3-1 Lightning: “One of the best in the business at redirecting pucks…no chance for (Andrei) Vasilevskiy, what a thing of beauty by Pavelski.”

Olczyk on Tampa Bay RW Nikita Kucherov: “It’s been a well-rounded game in a lot of areas. I think he could probably do without the collision below the goal line, the incidental contact with (Jamie) Benn. Sometimes coaches will tell you ‘hit or be hit’ and he took a couple of hits early and followed those with a couple nice primary assists the first couple of goals this game for his club.”

FIRST PERIOD

Emrick: “A house of horrors first period for the Stars.”

Olczyk on Tampa Bay C Brayden Point’s opening goal: “(Anton) Khudobin is moving right, the puck goes left. He’s expecting a fastball, ends up seeing a knuckle curve.”

Olczyk on LW Ondrej Palat’s goal, 2-0 Lightning: “Alex Killorn is causing so much havoc in front of the net. Bad penalty, puck ends up in the back of the net.”

Boucher on D Kevin Shattenkirk’s goal, 3-0 Lightning: “Sometimes when you give up a couple of quick goals, things can come at you really fast and that’s exactly what’s happening to the Dallas Stars right now.”

Olczyk on the Dallas-Tampa Bay physical matchup: “When you look at the teams Tampa has played against in these playoffs with the Islanders, Boston and Columbus, the most physical team without question was the Columbus Blue Jackets. The one thing that Dallas can do is they can play equal to that, but they have more guys who really get up and get there and that takes its toll…bit of a different animal Tampa is facing with the Dallas Stars.”

Olczyk on the Lightning’s lineup of 12 forwards and 6 defensemen: “With only 11 forwards, that’s more ice time, the extended games, overtimes, the physicality. I think it (having 12 forwards) gives the forwards a little more quality of ice time instead of quantity.”

Emrick just before puck drop: “I am like Corey Perry during the anthem, jumping up and down at the bench. This is just great.”   

PRE-GAME

Sharp on Dallas’ defensemen: “They get involved in the offense, they’re all great skaters. I like it, it’s a trend that we’ve seen all across the playoffs with a lot of teams this year. It’s offense from the defense position. I think it’s important when you get in the offensive zone to make those wingers work defensively.”

McGuire on Dallas G Anton Khudobin: “They used to have the Bulin Wall (Nikolai Khabibulin) down in Tampa. Well, this is Anton Khudobin Wall. This guy has been phenomenal…(reminds me of) 2011 Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins, who played the position like a linebacker.”

Forslund: “So he’s a linebacker out of the KFL – the Kazakhstan Football League.”

Olczyk on the veteran leadership of offseason acquisitions Stars RW Corey Perry and C Joe Pavelski: “That’s why they went out and got them. The experience of a guy like Corey Perry who has won a Stanley Cup and a guy like Joe Pavelski, who has been in a Stanley Cup Final. They’ve been big-time performers…these are experienced guys that give quality minutes…this is where you really count on your leadership and the guys that have been there. I think it was two tremendous signings by Dallas general manager Jim Nill.”

–NBC SPORTS–

Pre-Game Coverage Begins with NHL Live at 7 p.m. ET

2020 NHL Awards Presented by Las Vegas to Reveal Winners of Five Regular-Season Trophies at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Zdeno Chara: Made For This Docuseries to Premiere Tonight at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN

STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 21, 2020 – The 2020 Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning continues tonight with exclusive coverage of Game 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Pre-game coverage begins with NHL Live at 7 p.m. ET.

The Stars won the opening game of the Cup Final 4-1 behind 35 saves, including 22 in the third period, by goaltender Anton Khudobin on Saturday. During Game 1, ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Brian Boucher discussed Khudobin’s performance:

Boucher on Khudobin: “What a story (Anton) Khudobin has been. Keep in mind this is his 11^th season and he should not have been the starting goaltender for the Dallas Stars in these playoffs. Ben Bishop is their number one goaltender, but this guy has been ready. As his career has worn on, he has become a fantastic 1b option for any team he has played on. You can see five different NHL organizations, and he is loved by his teammates, works hard in practice, he is supportive of his teammates, and now they are supporting him. He is getting a great opportunity to play in his first Stanley Cup Final. He was there as a third-string goaltender for the Bruins in 2011, it was a great learning experience, but this is his first kick at the can at being a number one in the biggest stage.”

For additional notable quotes from the matchup, click here.

Eight-time Emmy Award-winner Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick will handle play-by-play duties alongside U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member Eddie Olczyk (analyst) and Brian Boucher (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst). Emmy Award-winner Pierre McGuire will provide commentary throughout the game and contribute to intermission and post-game reports. All Stanley Cup Final games are taking place at Rogers Place in the NHL bubble in Edmonton, Alberta.

Kathryn Tappen will host tonight’s studio coverage alongside studio analysts Keith Jones, Anson Carter and Patrick Sharp.

The 2020 NHL Awards Presented by Las Vegas will reveal winners of five regular-season trophies at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The 30-minute program will be co-hosted by NBC Sports’ Kenny Albert and Scott Oake of Sportsnet, who will announce the winners of the 2019-20 Calder Memorial Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, James Norris Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and Vezina Trophy.

The first episode of Zdeno Chara: Made For This, a four-episode docuseries celebrating the historic career of Boston Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara and detailing his first-person account of childhood, family and on-ice leadership as a member of the Boston Bruins for the past nearly year-and-a-half, will premiere tonight at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, leading into the 2020 NHL Awards program. An encore presentation of the episode will air following NHL Overtime at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Following is tonight’s schedule on NBCSN:

NBC SPORTS RADIO STANLEY CUP FINAL BROADCAST DETAILS

In conjunction with Westwood One, NBC Sports Radio will broadcast every game of the Stanley Cup Final. Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti will call the Cup Final, while Steve Goldstein will serve as host during pre- and post-game and intermissions.

2020 STANLEY CUP FINAL SCHEDULE

* If Necessary

–NBC SPORTS–