Following the Stars’ Conference Semifinals Game 2 win over Calgary on May 5, Flames forward Tyler Toffoli was seemingly somewhat flippant about the loss and heading to Dallas for games three and four.
“Our goal was to go into Dallas and win two games anyway, so it doesn’t really change our mindset,” he told Toronto Sun after his team dropped game two, 2-0.
Dallas made Toffoli eat his words on May 7 as the Stars took the game 4-2 and established a 2-1 lead in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In Game 3 of the first-round playoffs at American Airlines Center on Saturday, Joe Pavelski scored two goals for the Stars’ win against the Flames.
Shortly after Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom made a save on Miro Heiskanen off his pads, Pavelski scored on the rebound of another shot by Heiskanen to tie it 2-2 at 11:41 of the second.
Pavelski gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 10:05 of the third period, again getting to a rebound in front of the power play.
The Stars were 0-for-10 with an extra skater in the series on power plays, but the 37-year-old Pavelski’s tiebreaking power-play goal with 9:55 left made it 3-2.
On a rush, Pavelski made a cross-ice pass to Vladislav Namestnikov, who then took a shot that bounced off goalie Markstrom. Pavelski, an American-born player, scored the game-winning goal.
“It’s big. It’s another step,” Pavelski said. “There’s a lot of effort from up and down the lineup. Lots of physicality. Guys handing in, taking checks, making plays.”
Two nights after shutting out Calgary to tie the series, the 23-year-old Jake Oettinger earned his second playoff victory in his first playoff game on home ice in Dallas and the first for the Stars in more than three years.
Pavelski, like Oettinger, was playing in his first home playoff game at the American Airlines Center. His first season with the Stars in 2019-20 saw them reach the Stanley Cup Final, even though the entire postseason was played in a bubble in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dallas’ first goal came from Radek Faksa, and Roope Hintz added an empty-net goal just before the final buzzer.
The Stars finished with a 44-23 advantage in hits.
After the teams traded shutouts and combined for only three goals in the two games at Calgary, they had a physical and brawling Game 3 in Dallas.
Ninety seconds into the game, Matthew Tkachuk and John Klingberg began fighting, trading blows, and receiving 5-minute majors, while Oettinger made a glove save on Gaudreau’s wrister on Calgary’s first shot.
When Pavelski knocked in Heiskanen’s shot that ricocheted off Markstrom midway through the second period, the game was tied at two. That came just seconds after Markstrom’s off-balance rejection of Heiskanen’s shot, though the Stars were able to keep possession.
Faksa put Dallas up 1-0 nearly nine minutes into the contest when he redirected Esa Lindell’s shot off a pass from Heiskanen after a faceoff. Just before that, Noah Hanifan leveled Faksa in front of the net, and Markstrom managed to get the puck after a shot by Heiskanen.
Calgary tied the game at 1-1 on a goal that Bowness thought came from goalie interference, with Oettinger down after colliding with Milan Lucic. Dallas lost in the replay challenge.
The Flames took a 2-1 lead off of Elias Lindholm in the second period.
Game 4 is in Dallas on Monday, May 9, before the series shifts back to Calgary for Game 5 on Wednesday, May 11.