Joe Pavelski scored twice, including for the winner of the match, for the Dallas Stars in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames to take a 2-1 lead in his playoff series.
Radek Faska also scored, and Rupe Hinz added a goal from an empty net for the Stars. Goalkeeper Jake Oettinger made 39 saves for the victory ahead of a sale of 18,532 at the American Airlines Center
Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm responded for the Flames, with Jacob Markström scoring 28 of 31 hits in the Calgary net.
Game 4 in the affair of the best of the seven is on Monday in Dallas before returning to Calgary for Game 5 on Wednesday.
If necessary, Game 6 is Friday in Dallas and Game 7 will be Sunday in Calgary.
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The Flames opened the conference quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory before falling 2-0 to Stars at the Saddledome.
When a series of the top seven is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 holds the all-time record of the 228-110 (.675) series, according to NHL statisticians.
The Flames (50-21-11) topped the Pacific Division, and the Stars (46-30-6) won first place in the Western Conference with a wild card.
Pavelski scored his second of the match and his first goal in a series for the stars – after scoring 0-for-11 – at 10:05 in the third period for a 3-2-star lead.
Pavelski scored a rebound after a shot by Vladislav Namestnikov for the third goal in the series of the 37-year-old footballer. The winner of the 14th playoff game of his career is the most active in the NHL, according to Stars.
Oettinger denied Calgary’s Johnny Godreau in less than four minutes until the end of the match.
Markström went to Calgary’s bench with 1:40 to find an additional Flams striker, but Calgary failed to equalize.
Dallas is behind with a goal, Pavelski pulled the hosts even 2-2 at 11:41 from the second period.
After Markstrom’s stretched save in the glove against Stars defender Miro Heiskanen, Pavelski made a rebound in Heiskanen’s subsequent strike on Markström, caught in his right crossbar.
Pavelski’s goals were his first since the American Airlines Arena season, since he was signed by Dallas in 2019.
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The stars reached the Stanley Cup final in the Edmonton playoffs in 2020, where they lost in six games to Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lindholm overcame a tick-tack with a single pass at 3:40 of the second period and took a 2-1 lead in Calgary.
Matthew Tkachuk, behind the net, fed Godro, who hit Lindholm, who fell to his knees to get the puck past Oettinger.
Luis and Milan Lucic combined Calgary’s first goal at 13:45 of the period. Lewis bounced off Lucic’s rebound from Oettinger’s doorstep.
Dallas coach Rick Bownes has been denied a challenge to intervene with goalkeeper Lucic. The stars deflected the ensuing light penalty.
Fax won the tie in the offensive zone and then deflected Essa Lindel’s wrist with Markström’s wrist for a four-on-four goal at 9:21.
Flams defender Oliver Killington shot the puck from the far post a minute earlier.
Defender of Tkachuk and Stars John Klingberg continued his feud in the series with a battle of 82 seconds after the initial lift. They got entangled and took random minors in less than a minute in Game 2.
Left winger Marian Studenic joined Dallas for Alex Radulov in Game 3. Bownes said he had made the move for “fresh feet”.
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