DALLAS — 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.”