Pressure shift: Stars’ Game 5 win over Golden Knights officially makes WCF interesting
LAS VEGAS — Before we examine what happened in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, let’s go back to Wednesday morning, where the juxtaposition between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars couldn’t be more apparent.
On one side of a black curtain were the Golden Knights, laughing and having fun as they played with a soccer ball on the ground floor of American Airlines Center. On the other side was the Stars, dealing with the repercussions of a Game 3 meltdown the night before and the daunting reality of a 3-0 deficit.
“This isn’t the situation we wanted to be in, but it’s the reality now,” Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, fresh off being chased away for the third time this postseason, said Wednesday. “Teams have come back from down 3-0 before, so why not us?”
That rhetorical question is even more valid now.
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With the season on the line, the Stars once again responded, beating the Golden Knights 4-2 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ty Dellandrea, recently promoted to the third line, led the way for the Stars with two third-period goals. His first gave the Stars their first lead of the game. His second all but ensured they’d live to play another day. He was a healthy scratch in Games 1 and 2 in Vegas.
“That’s our group, right?” DeBoer said. “Next man up.
“Gutsy, gutsy win, being down a couple of guys and coming in here. We talked about taking another bite out of the elephant, and I think we did tonight. We’ve got a couple of bites to go, but I like our group — I wouldn’t bet against them.”
The contributions came from all over. From the stars, like Jason Robertson, who scored his fifth goal of the series, to Luke Glendening, who started on the fourth line and scored the first goal for the Stars on Saturday.
Oettinger, the often-mentioned backbone of the team, finished with 27 saves against a relentless Vegas offensive attack.
Game 6 will be on Monday back at American Airlines Center.
In a way, Dallas’ return to Vegas was a testament to playing with house money. The odds were against the Stars coming back, so they pledged to play with a high level of desperation and a willingness to leave everything on the ice, just as they did in a Game 4 overtime win Thursday.
“I don’t know if you’re ever comfortable knowing in three hours, after seven months of work and almost 100 games you could be done,” DeBoer said before Game 5. “I don’t know if you ever get comfortable, but our group definitely has confidence in that situation.”
The Stars showed it early. The slow starts that plagued them the last time they were in Vegas? A thing of the past. Dallas came out aggressive, matching a series high with seven high-danger scoring chances in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick.
That rush to the net wasn’t a one-period display. It was a standard the Stars played with all night.
One problem: Vegas goalie Adin Hill.
Hill made multiple highlight saves, including diving glove saves against Roope Hintz and Joel Kiviranta from point-blank range.
Eventually, though, the Hill wall began to crack.
First on a first period tip-in from Glendening to tie the game after Ivan Barbashev opened the scoring for Vegas. Later on a persistent Robertson shot that tied the game at two.
Then Dellandrea took over in the third period.
Dellandrea — Dallas’ first-round pick in 2018 — had one career postseason goal before Saturday. He then scored two in less than two minutes to give Dallas a two-goal, third-period elimination game lead.
22-YEAR-OLD TY DELLANDREA GIVES THE STARS A TWO-GOAL LEAD! 😱😱😱
4-2 Dallas with seven (long) minutes left in Game 5
Via: @Sportsnet | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/2VgioI7W6d — SportsDay Stars (@dmn_stars) May 28, 2023
Because of Dellandrea’s third period sharpshooting, the Stars will head back to Dallas with a chance to extend this series.
Before Game 5, DeBoer offered a prediction about what would happen if the Stars were to win Saturday.
“If we can win a game tonight, there’s a dramatic shift in pressure here, and it happens pretty quickly on the other side,” DeBoer, wearing a three-piece suit, said confidently. “We’ve got to take care of business. Big ask here in this arena and in an elimination game, but I like our chances.”
After 60 minutes, the pressure did indeed shift, offering quite the juxtaposition between where the Stars were after Game 3 on Tuesday, and where they are now.
“I guess the [odds] are better than they were four days ago,” Glendening said when asked about them. “But we still need to win two games and they have to win one, so we’ll just keep battling.”
Speaking of odds: DeBoer was asked about them, too.
“I feel great,” DeBoer said when asked about where his team sits. “I feel great. I feel great. There are no other words. Let’s go. Let’s drop the puck.”
Photos: Stars extend season with dramatic Game 5 win over Golden Knights 38 images View Gallery
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Source: The Dallas Morning News
