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05/01 22:52 CDT Stars first to hold serve at home, beat Knights 3-2 in Game 5
for series lead in NHL playoffs
Stars first to hold serve at home, beat Knights 3-2 in Game 5 for series lead
in NHL playoffs
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
DALLAS (AP) --- Jason Robertson scored on a power-play after Tyler Seguin took
a shot to the face, Jake Oettinger had another flawless finish and the Dallas
Stars finally got a home win in these NHL playoffs.
Robertson's goal late in the second period put the Stars ahead to stay and they
beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in Game 5 on Wednesday night. They now lead
the series after the visitors had won each of the first four games.
"The resilience ... I think it's great how we've been able to battle back,"
said Wyatt Johnston, the 20-year-old forward who had two assists.
Evgenii Dadonov and Matt Duchene also scored for the Stars, who have won three
in a row after dropping the first two games at home last week as the No. 1 seed
in the Western Conference.
"A credit to our group. You know, there wasn't, a lot of believers at that
point," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "We went on the road into a tough
environment, and kind of rolled up our sleeves and went to work. And you look
up and six days later you've got a 3-2 lead and a chance to close out the the
Stanley Cup champions."
Seguin was down on the ice and a bit dazed after Alex Pietrangelo took a big
backhanded swing and connected to the face of the Stars forward when they were
together against the boards. The play was initially called a five-minute major,
but changed to a minor penalty after replay review.
Still, it was a major hit against the Knights. Robertson's third goal of the
series came after he got his own ricochet and knocked the puck through traffic
and past Adin Hill, the goalie starting his first game for the Knights this
series.
Pietrangelo's hit was certainly some retaliation against Seguin, who had taken
a penalty for an illegal check to the head of Shea Theodore earlier in the
second period, another call that initially a major penalty downgraded after
replay review.
"A veteran guy should know better," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of
Pietrangelo, while acknowledging his team wasn't happy about the hit on
Theodore. "You're going to be upset, but that's playoff hockey. You've got to
find a way to channel it."
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 25 shots, including a nearly full-split
save to deny Chandler Stephenson on a breakaway with about 2 1/2 minutes left
in the game.
"I was on the ice watching that breakaway and said a prayer but I should have
just trusted in Jake," Seguin said.
"He really has the ability to go to another level at the most important time of
the game," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "That was the third period tonight,
hat was the third period the other night."
Oettinger had 11 saves in the third period, and has stopped all 55 shots he has
faced in the third period or overtime in this series.
Hill had 22 saves after Logan Thompson had started the first four games.
Mark Stone and William Carrier scored the goals for Vegas.
Game 6 is Friday night in Las Vegas, where the Stars won 3-2 in overtime in
Game 3, then 4-2 in Game 4.
Vegas never trailed the Stars in the Western Conference Final last year,
winning the first three games before wrapping up the series in six games.
Duchene scored on a power play for a 2-1 Dallas lead after a tripping penalty
against Carrier. Seguin had a shot off the upper body of Hill, before Johnston
got a stick on the puck that then pinged off a Vegas defender and was stuffed
in by Duchene.
Knights captain Stone, playing his 73th playoff game for Vegas and his 100th
overall in his career, put them up 1-0 with a power-play goal four minutes into
the game. He redirected Noah Hanifin's shot between Tomas Hertl and Stars
defenseman Esa Lindell, who were in front of Oettinger.
That lead lasted only only about a minute before Dadonov scored on a pass from
rookie Logan Stankoven, who did some nifty stick work to push the puck ahead of
defenseman Brayden McNabb sliding feet-first on the ice after falling down.
Carrier made it 2-2 when he withstood a hit from Lindell against the boards
behind the net but kept possession of the puck and stuffed it around the post
to Oettinger's left. They came inches from taking the lead after that when
Brett Howden had a shot across the front of the goalie that ricocheted off the
top of the other post.
Hill and Thompson had shared starts down the stretch during the regular season.
Thompson has a .921 save percentage and allowed 2.35 goals per game this
series, while Hill was 11-4 in the playoffs last season after taking over for
injured Laurent Brossoit.
"He gave us a chance to win, did his job," Cassidy said. "A well-goaltended
series."
___
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