Stars defense paves way for Game 4 win against Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- It hurt. Clearly. The Dallas Stars were protecting a one-goal lead late in the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights were pushing desperately, goalie pulled. Roope Hintz, the Stars No. 1 center, blocked a slap shot by Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin with 1:40 left.

Soon afterward, Hintz was rewarded. The puck bounced to him inside the Dallas blue line, and he fired it 120 feet into an empty net with 1:22 to go. As his teammates gave him pats on the back, he grimaced in pain.

Dallas won 4-2 in the Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Monday, tying the best-of-7 series 2-2.

“It’s plays like that,” goalie Jake Oettinger said, “that separate winning a championship and going home.”

After the first two games of this series, it looked like the Stars might be going home early. They lost 4-3 in Game 1 and 3-1 in Game 2 in Dallas.

Last season, they fell behind the Golden Knights 3-0 in the conference final, lost the series in six and watched them go on to win the Stanley Cup. In the regular season, they lost all three meetings against them (0-1-2).

But this is a team that won the Western Conference and finished one point behind the New York Rangers for the best record in the NHL. This is a team that had the best road record in the League (.695 points percentage). This is a team with championship aspirations.

The Stars were resilient in Games 3 and 4 overall and within each game.

In Game 3, they dominated the first 30 minutes and took a 2-0 lead, only to watch the Golden Knights tie it 2-2. In overtime, they were one shot from another 3-0 hole against the Golden Knights, but center Wyatt Johnston gave them a 3-2 win.

In Game 4, they fell behind 1-0 and 2-1. But they kept coming back, and when they took a 3-2 lead into the third period, they locked it down.

Game 5 is at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN).

“It’s not over unless you give up, and no one in here has given up, and now we’re right back in this series,” Oettinger said. “I just couldn’t be more proud of the way the guys played, and just the decisions and the little plays that separate this time of year, and just the way that Pete (DeBoer) was preaching playing the right way. It was a great message, and guys took it and played the right way and got rewarded.”

The Stars are considered Stanley Cup contenders because of their depth -- a mix of high-end players and role players at different stages of their NHL careers -- and hunger to win.

In Game 4, they got another goal from Johnston, the 20-year-old who led them with 32 goals in the regular season. But they also got goals from Evgenii Dadonov, a third-line left wing, and Ty Dellandrea, a fourth-line left wing.

Dellandrea’s goal turned out to be the winner. He went to the net late in the second period, and when right wing Craig Smith threw the puck toward the net from a sharp angle, it went off his upper body and past goalie Logan Thompson at 18:34.

“Get pucks towards the net, and good things happen,” Smith said.

Dellandrea and Smith were healthy scratches the first two games. They played the past two games due to injuries to forwards Mason Marchment and Radek Faksa.

“Guys have come in, and it’s been seamless,” DeBoer said. “[They have] not only jumped in but had an effect on the game. That depth has been great, and you can feel it. It’s contagious to our group. Those guys are really driving a lot of plays for us. They’ve been fantastic.”

The Stars sat on the lead in the third period perhaps too much, outshot 14-7. But Oettinger made 14 saves, finishing with 32.

“You knew they were going to push back, and he made some critical saves at key times,” DeBoer said. “We’re going to need that. Two out of three going home. He’s got to be one of our best players, but I feel like he’s in that zone now.”

The Stars had 24 blocked shots, including 16 in the third. Even players known more for scoring contributed to the defensive effort. Center Matt Duchene has one assist in the series, but he had four blocked shots in Game 4. Hintz, who led Dallas with 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 19 playoff games last season, didn’t have a point until he blocked that shot and scored that empty-netter.

“You’ve got to pay a price to win in this league,” said captain Jamie Benn, who had two blocked shots, “and that’s a perfect example.”

No pain, no gain.

“We’ve got some good buy-in from key guys there,” DeBoer said. “There’s a lot of guys in that room that want to win.”