Joe Pavelski scored the game-winning goal in overtime and the Dallas Stars avoided elimination against the Vegas Golden Knights with a 3-2 win in Game 4 of the West Final.
Pavelski ended the suspense at 3:18 with a one-timer from the left circle, on a pass from Miro Heiskanen.
“He doesn’t age,” Stars head coach Peter DeBoer said of Pavelski. I’ve seen this scenario many times. He plays for these moments and wants to live them. »
Brayden McNabb of the Golden Knights was penalized with a high stick.
Leading the series 3-1, the Knights will want to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals with a win Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Jason Robertson scored twice and Jake Oettinger saved 37 pucks.
“We want to score goals and that’s a responsibility I give myself,” Robertson said. I know these series have not been easy. »
William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault scored the goals for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill made 39 saves.
In the fifth minute of the game, Karlsson scored his eighth goal of the playoffs by deflecting a shot from Reilly Smith.
Nicolas Roy also got an assist on Karlsson’s goal.
With less than five minutes left in the first period, Robertson took advantage of a power play to tie the game.
He picked up a loose puck, on the fly in the slot, and outspeeded the Golden Knights goaltender to make it 1-1.
With 9:37 left in the second period, Marchessault gave the Golden Knights the lead via assists from McNabb and Jack Eichel.
Marchessault accepted the pass from McNabb, to the left of keeper Oettinger, and pushed the puck into the net to give the visitors the lead.
“Our effort was not enough,” said Marchessault. Ending a streak is probably the toughest game, so that wasn’t enough of our group. We were only one goal away. »
A few minutes later, with 2:39 left in the second period, Robertson scored his second goal to tie the game again.
Both teams had good chances to score in the first minutes of the third period, without capitalizing.
Stars captain Jamie Benn was out of the game after being suspended Wednesday for a dangerous cross-check on Golden Knights captain Mark Stone.