The Dallas Stars won their second consecutive game to prolong the Western Conference Finals another two days.
Dallas beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 5 thanks to a two-goal night from third-year forward Ty Dellandrea, who scored both his goals less than 1:30 apart in the third period after being a healthy scratch earlier in the series.
“Seeing him come into the lineup, playing and [scoring] two goals in our biggest game of the year, it’s great to see how far he’s come and how well he played,” forward Jason Robertson said of Dellandrea as he spoke with the media after the win.
Vegas got on the board first as Ivan Barbashev maneuvered his way through the Dallas defense and dodged a sprawling effort from Jake Oettinger in front of the net.
Luke Glendening evened things for Dallas as Thomas Harley fired a shot from the blue line, and Glendening tipped it past the Vegas goalie.
Trailing 2-1 in the second, Robertson took a pass from Ryan Suter on a three-on-three rush and was stopped by Vegas’ Adin Hill. But Robertson stayed with the play, gathered the rebound, and tied the game for Dallas.
The Western Conference Finals will continue with Game 6 at 7 p.m. CT on Monday in Dallas.
The Dallas Stars look to fight off elimination for the second consecutive game as they travel to Las Vegas for Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday.
The Stars fell behind 3-0 in the series but managed to pull out a 3-2 overtime win at home on Thursday.
“We had a great mindset. We had great energy, and we had great focus,” Coach Pete DeBoer told the media after the win. “We don’t feel like we should’ve been down 3-0. … We wanted to make sure that we took care of business, and we did. Now, we’ve got to go do it again.”
A win would allow Dallas to climb back into the series just in time for captain Jamie Benn to return from his two-game suspension and get one step closer to becoming just the fifth team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in an NHL playoff series.
“When I went out in Game 1 against Minnesota, I heard guys talking about playing hard for me and buying extra time for me to get back,” forward Joe Pavelski said Thursday. “Jamie means everything to the guys in there. He leads the way, and we want to extend this and get him back, so there’s a little talk to that.”
Benn was suspended for a cross-check to the face of Vegas’ Mark Stone early in Game 3 the following afternoon, while fellow forward Evgenii Dadonov is not traveling with the team due to injury. Both have been among the Stars’ leaders this postseason.
“Whenever you’re missing guys like Chubbs [Benn] and Daddy [Dadonov], it’s a big hole, and there’s got to be guys that step up and make a difference,” forward Mason Marchment said as the team prepared to leave for Vegas on Friday.
“Not many teams can take two of their top six forwards out in Dadonov and Benn and survive,” DeBoer added before the team departed. “We did for a game, and we’ve got to do it again tomorrow night, and then, hopefully, Jamie Benn will be back in the lineup.”
Of course, Dallas will need to win Game 5 first.
Game 5 begins at 7 p.m. CT. The series will return to Dallas for Game 6 on Monday night if the Stars win. If Vegas wins, the Golden Knights will move on to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers.