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Pavelski keeps Stars’ season alive with OT winner vs. Golden Knights: ‘It’s a start’

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Ric Flair in the building for Dallas. Wooo! Ric Flair taking selfies with Tie Domi and Mike Tyson. Wooo! Domi explaining hockey to Tyson. Wooo! Joe Pavelski scoring in overtime. Wooo!

On a Thursday night for icons at American Airlines Center, Pavelski was the only one still playing. And because of him, so are the Dallas Stars.

Pavelski hammered a puck into the top corner of the Vegas Golden Knights’ net at 3:18 of overtime as the Stars won 3-2 and did what the Carolina Hurricanes failed to do against the Florida Panthers in the other National Hockey League conference final: win at least once.

Pavelski keeps Stars’ season alive with OT snipe in Game 4 vs. Golden Knights

The goal also moved Pavelski, the 38-year-old American still seeking his first Stanley Cup, past Alex Ovechkin for the active lead in career playoff scoring with his 73rd post-season tally – nearly two-thirds of them arriving after Pavelski turned 30.

The one-timer, perfectly teed up by Miro Heiskanen, allowed the Stars to avoid the ignominy of a four-game sweep. But they wake Friday morning to the sobering reality that the Golden Knights, who led twice in Game 4, still lead the Western Conference Final 3-1 and Dallas will need to replicate its immense effort three more times without fail – and twice on the road.

Game 5 is Saturday in Las Vegas.

Pavelski finally breaks through as Stars extend series with big win vs. Golden Knights

In May and June, the bottom line is all that matters in the NHL. But the Stars can boost themselves mentally knowing they just slayed an OT demon by winning in extra time in these playoffs for the first time in five tries; that with their season in jeopardy, they rallied twice against a hard-boiled Vegas team that doesn’t make many mistakes; and that Dallas did this without captain Jamie Benn, who earned a two-game suspension by dropping the lumber on Mark Stone in Game 3’s 4-0 loss.

“It’s a big win,” Pavelski said afterward. “It’s a start for us. We know our situation. That’s how they got going — with an overtime win (in Game 1). It’s nice to get one here and build from there.”

‘This is just one win’: Pavelski on Stars not getting ahead of themselves after Game 4 win

But … “This is one win. I’m not going to look too much farther ahead than the next game. There’s no reason to. Just going to gear up for that and get ready to go, and go back and compete, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Back to Dallas for a Game 6, if the Stars are lucky.

“We had everyone bring their desperation level all the way up,” winger Jason Robertson said after scoring twice (see below). “It’s an elimination game, so wanted to step up, a lot of guys stepped up, and we’ve got to do that again for Game 5.”

WOOO! FOR THE REFS

After making no initial call on Vegas defenceman Brayden McNabb’s high stick against Ty Dellandrea early in overtime, referees Jean Hebert and Chris Rooney huddled with linesmen Matt MacPherson and David Brisebois to get a critical call right and assess McNabb a minor penalty at 2:28.

Dellandrea may have whiplash-like symptoms on Friday after snapping his head back, but he was definitely whacked on the chin by McNabb when the defenceman tried to lift the Dallas winger’s stick in front of the Vegas net.

Special teams are one of the areas where the Stars were expected to have an advantage over the Knights, who have been dominant at five-on-five in the playoffs. On Thursday, the Dallas power play scored on its only two advantages. Stars penalty-killers blanked the Knights’ power play on its lone chance.

ROBERTSON TURNS THE SCREW

Three rounds into what has been a perplexing playoff run for Jason Robertson, the Stars’ top winger had his best game. A 46-goal sniper from the regular season who didn’t score at all in Dallas’ seven-game win against Seattle in the second round and had only two goals in 13 playoff games before this series, Robertson scored both tying goals and finished with 11 shots on target. Eleven.

Stars’ Robertson displays excellent hand-eye to score equalizer in Game 4
He looked dangerous whenever he was near the Vegas net, and his two goals demonstrated Robertson’s sublime hands and scoring instincts. On the first goal, which made it 1-1 at 15:42 of the first period, Robertson redirected Heiskanen’s shot-pass, located the mid-air rebound and bounced the puck with his stick from one side of goalie Adin Hill to the other, then bunted it into the net on his final touch.

On the second, at 17:21 of the second, he reacted quickest to a rebound off the end boards, beating defenceman Alec Martinez and Hill.

‘Everyone brought their desperation level up’: Robertson says team effort helped force Game 5

The 23-year-old has four goals in the series and is suddenly up to 17 points in 17 playoff games.

A MEASURE OF REDEMPTION

Neutrals watching can’t help but feel good for Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who imploded at the start of Game 3 and was despondent after getting hooked by coach Pete DeBoer for the third time in eight games – a walk of shame he endured only once in 62 games during an excellent regular season.

Stars needed ‘feel-good’ story from Oettinger to stave off elimination in Game 4

“You pretty much feel like you want to cry,” Oettinger told reporters in Dallas on Wednesday. “You put your whole season into this and you want to play your best in these moments, and when you can’t do that for your team and for your fans, it’s one of the worst feelings in the world. It’s part of the position. When people say, you know, the ups and downs, this is the down. (But) I’m never going to give up, I’m never going to stop believing in myself.”

After getting ventilated for three goals on five shots on Tuesday, Oettinger stopped 37 of 39 in Game 4, winning what was a sparkling goaltending duel with Hill, who saved 39 of 42 Dallas shots.

FAST FREDDY OLOFSSON

A healthy-scratch for Dallas’ first 16 playoff games, Fredrik Olofsson had a lot of energy saved up when he finally got to play Thursday due to Benn’s suspension and an undisclosed injury to Stars winger Evgenii Dadonov.

The speedy winger registered five shots in 10:04 of fourth-line ice time and had a terrific chance to win it for Dallas with two minutes remaining in the third period when he got behind Vegas defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and Martinez, and patiently took the puck the all the way across the top of the crease before shooting. But Hill, whose goaltending has been a revelation since he entered the playoffs from the Knights’ bullpen, was equally patient and stayed with Olofsson to make a left-pad save.

JACK IS QUICK

The more you watch Jack Eichel, the more you realize the Golden Knights may actually have the superstar they hoped they were acquiring when general manager Kelly McCrimmon paid a fortune to the Buffalo Sabres to acquire a true No. 1 centre last season.

Eichel’s point-per-game scoring hasn’t been eye-popping in Vegas, but the powerful centre has become a more complete, two-way player for the Knights. And when he does have the puck, as he seemed to a lot in Game 4, change of pace allows Eichel to explode past defenders.

How Golden Knights’ Eichel is winning in every aspect of game vs. Stars
Eichel doesn’t play at warp speed like Connor McDavid, but he seems to be able to go from second gear to fifth in one stride. On one memorable shift Thursday, he torched Ryan Suter one-on-one and then, after a partial change on the fly by the Stars, Eichel similarly burned Thomas Harley.

Eichel had seven shots and made a pile of plays, but finished with just one assist.

The only thing we couldn’t figure out: how a player as good as Eichel, partnered with red-hot scorer Jonathan Marchessault (eight goals in eight games), could finish with just 16:57 of ice time when the Knights had a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

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EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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