DALLAS — Time doesn’t seem to catch up Joe Pavelski.
At 38 years and 318 days, the forward became the oldest player to score an overtime goal in an elimination game to keep the Dallas Stars alive with a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at the American Airlines Center on Thursday.
Pavelski won it on a power play at 3:18 on a one-time timer from the left faceoff circle for his ninth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The record was held by Chris Kunitz (37 years, 241 days), who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals.
“You just live in the moment and try to create what you can. They are very exciting games that you play and great opportunities to still play,” said Pavelski.
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Dallas got a power play in overtime when Vegas defender Braden McNabb was penalized for high-stick forward Ty Delandrea at 2:28. Pavelski cashed in to give the Stars their first win in five overtimes this postseason, including the first two of the conference finals.
It was Pavelski’s 73rd career playoff goal, the most among active players and tied for 13th on the NHL’s all-time list with Dino Ciccarelli.
‘He’s ageless, you know? What do you say about him?’ So said star coach Peter DeBoer. “I’ve seen that movie over and over. (It) never gets old, but he lives for those moments and he wants to be in those situations. Always has and delivers almost every time.”
Dallas is trailing 3-1 in the best-of-7 series and will again try to avoid elimination in Game 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS). Vegas.
“We haven’t had the greatest success in overtime,” said Pavelski. “It was still a moment where we wanted to attack, we had a chance and we wanted to go. There was a bit of pressure for us. Remember once the penalty happens you know it’s a great opportunity to get more of it to make.” , see what. It probably wasn’t the cleanest (power play) to start early, but we grabbed some puck and found a bit of space. It was nice to see that it definitely went in.
“They’ve won a couple of overtimes against us. It’s been a pretty tight series so we just have to keep that mindset. There were a lot of sacrifices from guys, big blocks on the way and important saves and fundamentals there tonight. We’ve got to get out there and do it again.”
Just like DeBoer, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger wasn’t surprised to see Pavelski deliver another clutch moment.
“Who else?” Oettinger said.