Stars defeat Golden Knights in OT in Game 3 of Western Final, lead series

Alexander Radulov scored 31 seconds into overtime, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in Game 3 to take the lead in the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday.

Radulov scored on the rush from the right face-off circle off a pass from Joe Pavelski for his third Stanley Cup Playoff overtime goal and second this season (Game 4 of first round against Calgary Flames). Four of his eight goals in the 2020 playoffs have been game-winners.
"Pavelski] made a [heck] of a play, and I think somebody got the puck out of our zone and made a stretch pass to Pav, Pav saw me flying -- well, skating -- on the other side of the ice," Radulov said. "There was kind of nobody there, so he made a good pass, and I get into the zone, just close my eyes, and shoot it."
***[WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Stars highlights]*
Jamie Oleksiak and Jamie Benn scored, and Anton Khudobin made 38 saves for Dallas, the No. 3 seed in the West.
Teams that win Game 3 after a series is tied 1-1 are 359-154 (70.0 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 9-1 in the first two rounds.
Game 4 is in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).

Shea Theodore and Mark Stone scored, and Robin Lehner made 20 saves for Vegas, the No. 1 seed.
"Obviously, it's frustrating, but we're not going to throw ourselves a pity party," Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch said. "We're not going to blame it on anyone. It's all 20 guys in our locker room that played tonight, and no matter how much we felt like we should have won that game, we didn't. And now we've got to move on to Game 4."
Tuch's wrist shot went in off Stone at 12:46 of the third to tie the game 2-2. Stars coach Rick Bowness challenged for goalie interference by Stone, but the goal was upheld after video review, and Dallas was penalized for delay of game.
"We're not in overtime without [Khudobin]," Bowness said. "That third, we shot ourselves in the foot (outshot 18-4). … [Khudobin] was fantastic tonight. ... He made some huge saves, especially on that penalty kill after we challenged. Give him a lot of credit for that win tonight."
Benn took a pass from Tyler Seguin and scored from the left circle at 7:35 of the third to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

Oleksiak scored on a breakaway with 17 seconds remaining in the second period to make it 1-0 after taking a pass from Miro Heiskanen. It ended a goal drought of 157:07 for Dallas, which had not scored since John Klingberg on its first shot on goal in Game 1 (1-0 win Sunday) at 2:36 of the first period.
"Nice to have the D pair going on a breakaway," Heiskanen said. "I was so gassed, thank God he was flying, flying out there. That's a great, great goal by him."
Oleksiak's goal was the first allowed by Lehner in 171:27. He had two straight shutouts and had not allowed a goal since Quinn Hughes scored for the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 (4-0 loss Sept. 3) of the second round.
"Obviously, the second one, I'd like to have that one back," Lehner said. "The third one, I've got to look at it. It happened pretty quick. Every time you let one in, you kind of want that back. … I thought they had a lot of odd-man rush chances today. That may be the only thing we've got to clean up a little bit, but I thought we had a [heck] of a game."

Theodore scored a power-play goal at 3:49 of the third to tie it 1-1.
Benn and Radulov were reunited with Seguin on the top line for the first time since Game 6 of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche.
"They were opportunistic, and that's what they are," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "The puck got on the wrong guy's stick in the wrong spots tonight for us. Benn and Radulov with a little bit of room. Those guys stick pucks in the net when they get those looks."

Vegas outshot Dallas 40-23 and had a 73-44 advantage in shot attempts.
"That's playoff hockey, you know," Oleksiak said. "A lot of unexpected things happen. That was a good one for the fans, and it was textbook for us, bend not break. [Khudobin] was huge for us, and [Radulov], big goal at the end. It was a good team effort overall."
Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek left the game at 7:05 of the second period after a collision with Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera.
NHL.com staff writer Tim Campbell and columnist Nick Cotsonika contributed to this report