Tampa Bay Lightning beat Dallas Stars after overtime penalty to Stars captain Jamie Benn

SportsPulse: Mackenzie Salmons sits down with former NHL goalie and NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes to discuss the level of play during the Stanley Cup Finals= and whether or not the winner should have an asterisk in the record books. USA TODAY

Kevin Shattenkirk scored a power-play goal in overtime Friday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning took a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final.

The goal came with Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn in the penalty box for tripping Tyler Johnson, a call that his teammates disputed.

Shattenkirk got the winner at 6:34 after the Stars’ tying goal had deflected in off the defenseman.

“In my head, I was thinking I deserved some good karma after that,” he said.

The Lightning overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits and blew a 4-3 lead on the way to a 5-4 victory in Game 4.

The Lightning will be in position to wrap up their first championship since 2004. There’s a quick turnaround for Game 5 Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC). It’s the first back-to-back nights in a Stanley Cup Final since 2009.

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A look at Game 4:

Disputed call

The Stars weren’t happy with the call against Benn in overtime.

Said Stars forward Joe Pavelski: “I don’t have a ton of time for a play where Tyler Johnson steps in front of Jamie Benn and it has no real effect on the play, and Jamie breathes on him and the guy falls over. Whether that’s the case or not, there’s a little battle going on there, but it’s playoffs, it’s overtime. We expect 5-on-5.”

Stars coach Rick Bowness said he saw a “hockey play.”

“It’s two guys going for a loose puck,” he said.

The Lightning also didn’t like the fact that Brayden Point was called for embellishment on a Corey Perry penalty near the end of the third period.

“We’re not sure we felt there should be a four-on-four at the end of regulation there,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Lightning went 3-for-4 on the power play while the Stars went 0-for-3.

“Our power play had a chance to end the game (on a 4-on-3 in overtime), and they didn’t get it done,” Bowness said.

Line change

The struggling top line of Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov got shifted around.

Pavelski took Seguin’s place, and Seguin moved to a line with Corey Perry.

It paid off as Benn and Seguin picked up their first points of the series.

Benn fed Pavelski to give the Stars a 2-0 lead in the first period.

Seguin made a slick move and pass to get Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy out of position, and Perry followed it up to make it 3-2.

Seguin also picked up an assist on Pavelski’s second goal, which tied the game at 4-4 in the third period.

Pavelski has 60 postseason goals, tying him for first by a U.S.-born skater.

Lightning star power

Point was responsible for the first Lightning comeback. He made a sharp move on a breakaway to beat Anton Khudobin in the first period.

His second goal was on a second-period deflection to give him 13 goals this postseason.

“I think it’s just sticking with the process,” Point said of the Lightning’s comebacks. “We weren’t focusing on the end result, just the next shift, and it worked out for us tonight.”

Nikita Kucherov picked up two assists to give him 25 in the playoffs, a record for a winger.

“We rely on the big guys to score those goals, and they’re coming through,” Lightning forward Alex Killorn said.

Big save

Vasilevskiy made a spectacular save in the second period to prevent the Stars from going ahead 4-2.

He stretched out to make a pad save on Nick Caamano shot to keep the Lightning close.

It paid off when Yanni Gourde scored a power-play goal at 18:54 to tie the game.

Stamkos sits 

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who scored in Game 3 in his first appearance in nearly seven months, sat out Game 4.

He got a goal on his first shot in the Lightning’s 5-2 victory but played only five first-period shifts and none in the final two periods. 

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