There will not be a sweep in the Western Conference Final series.
In Dallas, on Thursday night, Joe Pavelski scored his ninth of the post season at 3:18 of extra time for a 3-2 win to the Stars over the Vegas Golden Knights..
The power play goal forces the series back to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Saturday.
“It’s such a fine line this time of year. You’re going good and all of a sudden you look and you’re in a 3-0 hole,” Pavelski said. “[We had a] couple of overtime losses and played some good hockey along the way. You just have to keep putting your game out there and having the belief that you can buy more time and earn more time.
“So, we’ll see where this goes. We’re excited about tonight and we’ll get some rest. We’ll look to do it again and keep trying to put a little doubt in their minds.”
Vegas’ Brayden McNabb was called for high-sticking in the extra session, setting up the power play goal.
For the first time in the series, the Stars had a push back for every effort by Vegas to take control of the game.
Jake Oettinger bounced back from being given the hook in the first period of Game 3 on Tuesday, he made 37 saves for the victory.
“Great response. Jake’s been that guy all year. I’ve said that,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “Every time our team’s stumbled, every time he’s had a stumble, his response has been exactly like it was tonight. I had no doubt that’s what we were going to get. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet. I think he’s starting to heat up here too.”
The Golden Knights took an early 1-0 lead in the first period on a fortuitous tip in by William Karlsson at 4:17.
“We weren’t fast early on. I don’t think we managed pucks well below the goal line,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Now, by the time you get it out, you’re tired. When you’re changing, and you’re not in your structure, they’re coming through [the dangerous areas]. I think there was a little bit of that going on early, where we allowed them through there and they were executing. I just thought today below the goal line our team didn’t execute like they normally do on the breakout.”
Jason Robertson, who scored a double in regulation for the Stars, tied the game at 15:42 of the first off a power play goal.
“I think we were playing a lot faster, a lot quicker,” Robertson said. “More predictable, clean on our breakouts, supporting the puck. Holding onto pucks more in the offensive zone, getting some rotations, causing some scrambles, and getting a lot of opportunities.”
Jonathan Marchessault potted a power play goal midway through the second period to give the Knights a 2-1 advantage.
“They played well, I thought, defensively. I thought they were better today,” Marchessault said. “We’re trying to play the right way, but I think their desperation was a little higher than ours. At that time of year, it’s not about X’s and O’s, it’s about who wants it more. I thought they wanted it more than us tonight.”
Robertson hit for his double at 17:21 for a 2-2 tie.
“They were better than us,” Cassidy said. “They won more puck battles. If you look at the face-offs, they were heavily tilted toward them. That’s your first competing act on the shift is the face-off. We weren’t there, but we got there in the third period. I thought that was the one period we outplayed them and both goalies were good, made some saves.”
Miro’s Heiskanen and Roope Hintz each had two assists in the win.
Adin Hill made 39 saves in the Vegas loss.
“He was excellent,” Cassidy said. “Can’t fault him on any of the goals.”
Dallas’ Jamie Benn served the first of his two-game suspension.
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