Dellandrea 'makes a difference' for Stars against Golden Knights in Western 1st Round

LAS VEGAS -- The story of Ty Dellandrea is one of those great unsung-hero stories of the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- the guy in the shadows who got his chance, went to the net and got rewarded.

Dellandrea has been in and out of the lineup all season, but the fourth-line forward scored the winning goal in the Dallas Stars’ 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Monday, helping them tie the best-of-7 series 2-2.

Game 5 is at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, BSSW, ESPN, SNP, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS).

In the postgame press conference Monday, Dellandrea sat on the podium next to captain Jamie Benn.

“No better teammate than Ty,” Benn said. “We all see what he’s done throughout the year -- works on his game every day, a great teammate. And that’s all you can really ask for, a teammate that’s fun to be around, works his [butt] off, and when he gets his time to play, he goes out there and makes a difference.”

The No. 13 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Dellandrea played all 82 games for the Stars last season, putting up 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists), and then 15 games in the playoffs, with three goals. Two came in a 4-2 win at the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the conference final.

“He likes playing Vegas,” coach Pete DeBoer said with a smile.

After losing to the Golden Knights in six games and then watching them win the Stanley Cup, the Stars bolstered their roster. They came up with a motto early in the regular season:

“A little less for a lot more.”

Depth would be a strength, and individuals committed to sacrifice for the greater good.

Dellandrea ended up with a lot less for a little more. He was in the lineup for the first two games of the regular season and out for the next two. He was in for the next seven, out for the next three. In for one, out for two. In for two, out for two.

And so on.

He played 19 straight games from Feb. 7-March 16 but became an extra again down the stretch. Out for three, in for one. Out for three, in for one. Out for the last five.

In the end, Dellandrea went from playing every game last season to playing about half the games this season. He had nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 42 games.

Of course, there were reasons for that, and it was hard to argue. He also went from plus-9 last season to minus-10 this season. The Stars won the Western Conference and finished one point behind the New York Rangers for No. 1 in the NHL.

But he took responsibility and kept grinding.

“There’s been parts of my game where I’ve needed to improve and sharpen over the course of the year, so a lot of it’s on me as well, and I’ve been challenged in that sense to keep growing my game,” the 23-year-old said. “We’re a really deep group. Everyone’s been playing well.”

Dellandrea didn’t play in the first two games of this series. But then forwards Radek Faksa and Mason Marchment sustained injuries, and Dellandrea and forward Craig Smith had to step into the lineup.

In the second period of Game 4, Dellandrea went to the net. Smith threw the puck in front, and it went off Dellandrea’s upper body and past goalie Logan Thompson, giving Dallas a 3-2 lead at 18:34.

“He's a beloved guy in our dressing room, really popular player and person,” DeBoer said. “You can feel the group pulling for him when he jumps in, and to his credit, he’s ready. Whatever it takes. …

“But he’s a playoff type player. He’s a playoff-type, character player. He doesn’t shrink in the moment. He’s not afraid of the physical piece of it, so I’m not surprised he’s having an effect on the games.”

Goalie Jake Oettinger knows Dellandrea better than any other teammate. Dellandrea lives at Oettinger’s house, and Oettinger’s little brother, Thomas, often wears Dellandrea’s No. 10 jersey.

“There’s no one in here that deserves that more than him,” Oettinger said. “I live with him, so I get to see … I’ve been through everything that he’s gone through this year, and just the way that he carries himself, there’s no one that puts the team first more than him.

“He works his butt off and never has a bad attitude and has just stayed ready for when he got his name called and played great tonight and has shown that he can step in and be a great piece to this team. There’s not a lot of people that are happier for him than me. That’s for sure.”

The moral of the story?

“Everyone wants to win, and not everyone’s going to have the exact role that they want,” Oettinger said. “But if you win the championship, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.”