In Edmonton, the Dallas Stars took advantage of fresh, clean ice and scored 31 seconds into extra time to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final on Thursday night.
Alexander Radulov struck for the winner off a stretch pass that sent him down the right wing, he netted the winner on wicked writer from the circle that rang in off the post.
“[Joe Pavelski] made a [heck] of a play, and I think somebody got the puck out of our zone and made a stretch pass to Pav, Pav saw me flying — well, skating — on the other side of the ice,” Radulov said. “There was kind of nobody there, so he made a good pass, and I get into the zone, just close my eyes, and shoot it.”
The Stars were in need of some offense after scoring once in the first two games of the series, that goal came in a 1-0 series opening win.
Jamie Oleksiak scored with seven seconds left in the middle frame, to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
“That’s playoff hockey, you know,” Oleksiak said. “A lot of unexpected things happen. That was a good one for the fans, and it was textbook for us, bend not break. [Khudobin] was huge for us, and [Radulov], big goal at the end. It was a good team effort overall.”
Anton Khudobin made 38 saves to get the win; he faced 18 shots i the third period.
“We’re not in overtime without [Khudobin],” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “That third, we shot ourselves in the foot (outshot 18-4). … [Khudobin] was fantastic tonight. … He made some huge saves, especially on that penalty kill after we challenged. Give him a lot of credit for that win tonight.”
Shea Theodore tied the game up early in the third off a power play goal.
Jamie Benn‘s third period strike put the Stars back up, 2-1.
“They were opportunistic, and that’s what they are,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The puck got on the wrong guy’s stick in the wrong spots tonight for us. Benn and Radulov with a little bit of room. Those guys stick pucks in the net when they get those looks.”
Alex Tuch forced the extra session when he tied it up in the waning minutes of the third.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating, but we’re not going to throw ourselves a pity party,” Tuch said. “We’re not going to blame it on anyone. It’s all 20 guys in our locker room that played tonight, and no matter how much we felt like we should have won that game, we didn’t. And now we’ve got to move on to Game 4.”
Game 4 is set for Saturday night, in Edmonton.
[WATCH:Â All Golden Knights vs. Stars highlights]
Robin Lehner made 20 saves in the loss.
“Obviously, the second one, I’d like to have that one back,” Lehner said. “The third one, I’ve got to look at it. It happened pretty quick. Every time you let one in, you kind of want that back. … I thought they had a lot of odd-man rush chances today. That may be the only thing we’ve got to clean up a little bit, but I thought we had a [heck] of a game.”
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