2024 - NHL playoffs | Stars still alive

The Dallas Stars have not pushed their last breath and suddenly, they are still alive.

Updated at 0:04

Those frustrated Stars, unable to do anything in the first three games of this series, found a way to stay alive in Game Four on Thursday night in Dallas.

In overtime, the Stars got a 3-2 victory, a result that will lead to Saturday’s game, the fifth in the series, which will be presented in the city of Céline.

What more can be said ? It took the vigilance of a veteran, Joe Pavelski, a guy who has seen snow and who was certainly not going to accept the opponent’s first offer, that of a hasty vacation and vague promises about an uncertain future at best, in exchange for what, exactly? In exchange for nothing.

This goal from Pavelski, already his ninth since the start of the playoffs, allows the Dallas Stars to continue on the road, facing the probably overconfident Golden Knights, who believed that their rivals were going to crash and fold at the end of a first and only proposal, that of returning home quickly.

PHOTO TONY GUTIERREZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stars fans celebrate their victory.

But it will not be so.

Among the Stars, there is therefore a small piece of light that points to the horizon. We won’t go over the teams that have been able to recover from a 0-3 deficit in a series since modern hockey accepted the forward pass and curved sticks, because this list is very modest anyway. Also, we are not going to say here that the Stars, now, have the wind in their sails, because the coast to overcome remains steep.

But the Stars have this talent and this passion, so many elements that allow us to believe it. By the way, is there a single defender as solid as Miro Heiskanen at the moment? The young man spent 30 minutes on the ice on Thursday night in Dallas, a high among players on both teams.

The season of the Stars was not supposed to end like this. The captain is not here for stupid behavior, and for a gesture that should have earned him a suspension by October, if that is. Faced with such an example of soft leadership, the Stars players could have crashed and disappeared, but no, they are still there, ready to do battle with a grueling Golden Knights, who are as tiring as a Celine tribute show. .

Finally, a reminder that there is no longer any point in throwing truckloads of money at a guard. In any case, not in a world where Adin Hill is only one victory away from a presence in the final.