The Dallas Stars once again avoided elimination against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, winning 4-2 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
Ty Dellandrea scored the game-winning goal and insurance goal in the third period at 1:27.
Luke Glendening and Jason Robertson scored the other Stars goals, while Jake Oettinger saved 27 pucks.
“He’s one of the coolest guys I’ve played with,” Oettinger said. He deserves every chance he gets and the players are very happy for him in the dressing room. All he needed was an opportunity to take his game up a notch, and he did. »
Ivan Barbashev and Chandler Stephenson returned fire for the Knights. They lead the series 3-2, having won the first three games of the confrontation.
Adin Hill made 30 saves.
The series returns to Dallas for Game 6 on Monday. Stars captain Jamie Benn will return after a two-game suspension.
Stars head coach Peter DeBoer said after the game that his team’s performance on Saturday showed just how important Benn is to them, knowing he would be back in the lineup with a Game 5 win. .
“It says a lot about what Benn means to our team,” DeBoer said. This match proved that it is important for us. »
The Stars were punished after just 50 seconds of action, when Mason Marchment tripped William Karlsson. The Golden Knights weren’t able to take advantage of it, but still got four shots on the power play.
With 11:13 to go in the first period, Hill stole a goal from Roope Hintz. The Stars forward collected the puck in front of the goalie’s semicircle, before turning around and shooting quickly towards the net, as Hill seemed compromised. The Cerberus, however, took out the mitten to make a superb save.
With 6:24 left in the first period, Barbashev made a nice fake and outspeeded Oettinger by bringing the puck to his strong side.
The Golden Knights’ lead didn’t last long, however, as Glendening deflected a Thomas Harley point shot less than two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1.
Stephenson restored the Golden Knights lead after 3:20 of play in the second period. The forward fired a good shot from the mitt side of the face-off circle.
Just like in the first period, the Stars responded less than two minutes later to tie the game. Robertson fired a shot first which was blocked by Shea Theodore, but collected the disc in front of him to beat Oettinger. On his second shot, the puck deflected off a stick and made a weird bounce. Oettinger lost sight of the puck and it went over him before entering the net.
Early in the third period, Hill once again saved the day with another steal of the mitt, this time against Joel Kiviranta. Hill even dropped his stick to swing to his left more easily and block the puck.
Midway through the third period, Dellandrea gave the Stars the lead for the first time in the game, thanks to an entry shot that beat Hill. The throw deflected off the defender’s stick in front of Dellandrea, and it was enough to make people forget their previous saves.
Dellandrea added his third goal of the playoffs at 12:02.