Brayden Point

Three goals in the first period, including two on the power play, paced the Lightning to a 3-0 lead. The Stars again tried to find a rally, but fell just short, as the Lightning took Game 2, 3-2, to even the Stanley Cup Final at one game apiece on Monday night.

A preview of the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars, including each team’s candidates for Conn Smythe, how they got to the Final and what they need to do to win the Cup.

The Dallas Stars clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Final on Monday and could be joined by one of the two teams left in the East on Tuesday. Also a look at a new coaching hire in the Metropolitan Division as a familiar face goes to Washington.

The Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in a battle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The winner plays their first-round series against the 12-seed Montreal Canadiens. The loser gets the second seed and plays the winner of the series between Toronto and Columbus. Game time is 8 p.m.

In Saturday's game against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers fell behind early and fell into a 3-0 hole again. Instead of erasing the deficit, the Flyers were down by two in the third and challenging to cut into the deficit further before they made the one mistake that did them in. The Flyers got two goals in short order after falling behind 4-1 with under eight minutes to play in the third, but were not able to complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning.

The Flyers final game of a three-game road trip comes against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much like the first meeting against the Lightning, Tampa enters as the hottest team in the league, currently on a nine-game winning streak, just as they were when they paid a visit to Philadelphia on Jan. 11.

The Flyers next opponent was one of the bigger disappointments in the NHL a month ago, but since then, the Tampa Bay Lightning have risen to second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the league in points, due in large part to a current nine-game winning streak that they will bring to Philadelphia on Saturday night.

While it still seems likely that the Flyers will get deals done with Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny at some point before camp begins, just what kind of deals with they get?

With August upon us, the Flyers still have not re-signed restricted free agents Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, two key pieces to their future. But the Flyers are not alone among teams still needing to sign key RFAs with just over a month until training camps open.

Allowing three power-play goals, six goals to even the most potent offense in the Tampa Bay Lightning and making enough fundamental mistakes to create a deficit in the first place don't look good. But the rally showed some character. It may not be a win but the Flyers need to channel this effort late in the game into better results from here.