The Dallas Stars took a 3-2 series lead with a 3-2 victory at the American Airlines Center Wednesday night.
In a Game 5 that could decide the tipping point of the most tightly contested first round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Dallas Stars won 3-2 in a nail-biter over the Vegas Golden Knights.
A second period go-ahead power play goal from Jason Robertson and a crucial save by Jake Oettinger late in the third period propelled the Stars to a win in front of a raucous crowd at the American Airlines Center. Wednesday's game was the first game of the series to start earlier than 8:30 p.m. in Dallas, and fans packed the house and brought the energy early and often.
Despite going down 2-0 in the series after two home losses, Dallas has bounced back for three straight wins to take the series lead with a chance to close things out in Vegas Friday. The home crowd finally saw a victory for the first time in the series, and Dallas fans showed their appreciation by bringing the noise for the entire third period as the Stars battled to stay ahead by a goal.
After the two losses in Vegas, Knights coach Bruce Cassidy turned to Adin Hill to take over in net for Logan Thompson, as well as slotting in Pavel Dorofeyev for Keegan Kolesar. It was a puzzling move in some ways, as Thompson had played a career-best game in the Game 3 overtime loss and was frankly the only reason Vegas even had a chance to get back in the game after the Stars pressured early and often. Hill led the team to a Stanley Cup last season, and was brilliant throughout the series against the Stars, but had struggled since returning from injury for the latter part of the regular season.
The Stars were still without Mason Marchment and Radek Faksa, which allowed them to keep Craig Smith and Ty Dellandrea in the lineup. Both of those players made significant impacts since joining the fourth line, with Smith having seven quality scoring chances in Game 3 and Dellandrea adding a goal in Game 4. It also allowed Evgenii Dadonov to play with more skilled players, where he looked much more dangerous in the prior two games after starting on the fourth line for the first two games in Dallas.
To recap:
The first period started almost identically to Game 1. The Stars took a minor penalty early in the game, and Mark Stone cashed in for Vegas on a tipped shot in the slot that gave Oettinger no chance to save it. The crowd was briefly deflated as it looked like Vegas could take the early momentum and run with it similar to what happened in Dallas in the first game of the series, and even dating back to last season's tough six-game series in the Western Conference Final.
Dallas crucially responded with an odd-man rush, and Logan Stankoven showed patience and dragged the puck past a diving defender in order to make a pass perfectly on the tape of Dadonov, who made no mistake on an elevated one timer over Hill's shoulder to tie the game 1-1.
The speed and tenacity of both of those players were on display all night, and it would not be the last time the two hooked up for a quality scoring chance, but later on Dadonov sailed a puck high over the net on a 3-on-0.
Once Dallas was back to level footing with Vegas, the crowd was majorly back in it and the Stars continued to their best performance at home out of the three games so far in Dallas. Vegas took a penalty, and the Stars added to their momentum with several good chances before Matt Duchene scored a much needed first goal of the playoffs to convert the power play chance. Duchene scooped up the loose change in front of Hill, who at this point looked shakier than Thompson had in the past three games.
Hill looked like a rusty goaltender who had only played once in the past month, which is exactly what had happened with him picking up a second injury that took him out until the final regular season game, a 4-1 loss to Anaheim.
Vegas had the final word in the first period, though, as William Carrier muscled his way past Esa Lindell and tucked a puck around the net and past Oettinger, who was late getting to his post. It was a tough goal to let in, and the momentum Dallas had built was quickly levelled off again. It was up to the Stars to create their own path forward and overcome the resiliency of Vegas.
In the second period, the referees became a focal point when Tyler Seguin checked Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore, who crumpled to the ice in apparent discomfort. Play continued until a scrum broke out with Vegas players coming to the aid of their teammate on the ground, with no penalty initially indicated. Then, Garret Rank and Jean Hebert huddled near the penalty box and announced there was a five minute major for a check to the head, and that the play would be reviewed.
After a rule change in recent years, referees have the discretion to huddle up and call a major penalty, and with every major penalty being reviewable, they can look at what happened and determine a penalty after review. After no initial penalty call, Rank and Hebert determined that they should indeed call a penalty, most likely basing their decision off the injured player on the ice (who, to be clear, returned immediately to action). The replay showed Theodore's head made contact with Seguin's backside, and with a major penalty having already been decided, the only action the referees had was to confirm the major or reduce to a two minute minor.
According to the letter of the law, the referees did everything by the book. There was no way to rescind the penalty altogether even if they determined it was not a penalty.
Dallas was able to kill off the penalty to render the decision moot, but that wouldn't be the last five minute major review of the period. Soon after, Seguin took a rogue punch from Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, which prompted the referees to once again huddle and call a five minute major for elbowing. It was clear with the penalty call that both referees hadn't seen what happened, because nothing close to an elbow came near Seguin's face. It was unnecessary and dangerous, but not an elbow.
After review, Rank announced that the call had been changed to a minor penalty for roughing. Once again, by the letter of the law, it was the right call. There is precedent to call a double minor for roughing, but it would have been tough to twist the one action into two minor penalties no matter how egregious it was. It could have also been argued that the penalty could have been upheld as a major due to intent to injure, but the referees did not see it as that flagrant.
Once the dust settled, Dallas was left with two minutes to cash in on the foolish play from Pietrangelo, and Robertson made sure Vegas paid for it. After an initial shot block, Robertson stayed with the rebound and sniped the puck through past Hill, who was still recovering from his reaction to the first blocked shot.
The Stars had a 3-2 lead, and for the second game in a row, went into the locker room with one period to play and a one goal lead.
Dallas knew Vegas would once again make a strong push for the third period, just like they had in Game 4. With the home crowd behind them, the Stars were able to generate more offensive chances and limit Vegas to only getting one chance here and there, which Oettinger was able to fend away. It wasn't until just under three minutes left in the period that Vegas was able to get a high danger chance, when Chandler Stephenson wiggled behind the Stars defense and went in on a breakaway. Stephenson deked and tried to beat Oettinger on the left post, but Oettinger threw out his right pad and made a game-saving stop.
Vegas pulled their goaltender soon after, but couldn't score, and the Stars hung on to win 3-2 for the 3-2 series lead.
Up next:
Dallas heads back to Vegas looking to close out the series on the road in six games, just like last season's first round series against Minnesota. It would be a coup to win four in a row against the defending champions, but Dallas was an amazing road team all season and proved it could translate the success into the playoffs in Games 3 and 4.
Vegas will have to make a tough decision now of whether to go back to Thompson in net, or stick with Hill. Hill made some key saves to keep it a one goal game, but Thompson didn't necessarily do anything to warrant him not deserving another start. Last season, Filip Gustavsson had a marvelous Game 1 for Minnesota in the series against Dallas, but after Marc-Andre Fleury started Game 2, Gustavsson never looked as unstoppable after that. If Thompson does start, he will have to recapture the magic that won Vegas the first two games and nearly stole the third game.
Marchment and Faksa remain day-to-day, but the current lineup has played well, and it is tough to consider pulling Dadonov off of Duchene and Seguin's line. If all forwards are healthy, it will become even more difficult a decision as to who sits and who plays.
It continues to be a near exclusively five man defensive rotation for the Stars. Nils Lundkvist played three minutes in Game 5, and head coach Pete DeBoer seems confident in rotating the other five defenders, pairing anyone with anyone depending on who is the freshest.
Game 6 is Friday at 9 p.m. CDT as part of a doubleheader on TNT, but can also be seen locally on Bally Sports Southwest.
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