There was a lot to keep on top of on Thursday Night. The NFL kicked off their season, the NBA had a playoff game (apparently), the pennant chase has been… Knocking it out of the park, and College Football had a game of some sort. It’s unlikely you followed this game wire-to-wire but if you caught glimpses of the game, you can tell that the game could have gone either way and the series is going to continue to be an entertaining one.
The first 39 minutes of this game indicated that we were in for a low-scoring, great goaltending battle where the team that scored first would ultimately win the game. Both Anton Khudobin and Robin Lehner have been grinding out great performances as they have been playing despite appearing hurt at times and looking like they would need to be sidelined for the backups. With great goaltending, we knew that the first goal would only be possible from a great offensive play or a mistake on defense.
The first goal was just the error the Stars needed. Mark Stone turned to fire a quick shot on net that was blocked by Jamie Oleksiak, immediately setting up the counter-attack. With no Vegas defenders back to prevent the opportunity, it became a clear man advantage for the Stars, throw in Mark Stone falling down in hopes to retreat to stop a breakaway and it became a clear goal opportunity. Jamie Oleksiak was found with a breakaway and only Robin Lehner there to stop him, freezing Lehner, Oleksiak was able to drive the puck in with a backhand to give the Stars the lead. The goal was scored with 17 seconds left in the second period and looked to be all the Dallas Stars would need as the series was forming into a low-scoring series.
The third period was where the action started to pick up. The common theme became one of a boxing match where the two offenses were trading punches and nobody seemed to be able to deliver the knockout punch.
Just like the game on Wednesday night between the Islanders and the Lightning, we saw a 5 on 3 power play in the third period. Unlike the Islanders, the Vegas Golden Knights were able to capitalize on the opportunity, proving why they are still playing at a Cup-level while the Islanders have not been able to do so. The Knights were going through their cadences in hopes to set up an ideal shot and Shea Theodore became the guy who could deliver. Theodore fired a shot from the point that couldn’t have been placed any better as it went to the pad side of Khudobin (which is always a tougher side to make a save on for Goalies) and hit the corner of the net which means that there was a two-inch window for that puck to go in and it did. Shea Theodore has proven his ability to create and score goals throughout the playoff and tonight we saw that quality once again.
I mentioned in the previous article of this series that the Dallas Stars scorers need to wake up if they want to remain competitive in this series. One of the players that I mentioned was Jamie Benn, who hadn’t scored since game five of the Second Round. Jamie Benn found a golden opportunity to end the dry-spell when he suddenly saw himself with the puck and only Robin Lehner to beat. Benn decided to shoot for the Five Hole (the gap between the goalie’s legs) and it put the Stars back on top. The Dallas Stars now had a 2-1 lead and in a series that hasn’t seen many goals, this looked like the goal that was going to put the game away.
The Knights would hear none of that and would continue to play aggressively as they have shown they can do successfully. After winning the puck off the boards, Alex Tuch fired a shot on goal that was once again a good reminder to create traffic in front of the net. On a goal that looked like goalie interference and ended up being reviewed, we saw Mark Stone get in front of Anton Khudobin and the shot deflected off of Stone to tie the game again. Deflection goals are often seen as fluke goals, but it is hard to call the equalizer a fluke goal as the Knight’s aggressive play and ability to set up a manageable shot resulted in the goal.
Three periods would not be enough to decide Game Three. It left us with the best ending for any game in any sport, sudden death overtime. We were also again reminded that this game could have easily swung in any direction and we could easily be talking about how doomed one team is after trailing in the series 2-1.
Alexander Radulov assured that the Stars wouldn’t be the team that would be billed as in trouble. While the Stars gaining possession of the puck in neutral territory, Jamie Benn found Radulov skating at full speed on the other end of the ice and sent him a pass that left the Stars with another breakaway opportunity. Alexander Radulov was able to place the puck in the ideal spot for a scorer and the worst spot for any goalie to make a save as he wristed the puck to the pad side of Robin Lehner into the top corner of the net. The incredible goal was a perfect capping to a great game that gave the Stars a 2-1 series lead.
We were reminded in a battle like this one how close the difference is between winning and losing, especially in a sport like hockey. We also are able to fancy ourselves in knowing that this is going to be a great series. While the Lightning appear ready to advance out of the East, we might have a Game Seven and a deep series with both teams proving that they are able to win games in high scoring or low scoring manners.
