3 Keys: Golden Knights at Stars, Game 5 of Western 1st Round

(WC2) Golden Knights at (C1) Stars

Western Conference First Round, Game 5

7:30 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, BSSW, ESPN, SNP, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS)

Best-of-7 series tied 2-2

DALLAS -- Goalie Adin Hill will start for the Vegas Golden Knights as they shake up their lineup for Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

Forward Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Ben Hutton also will make their series debuts for the Golden Knights, who will try mostly new forward lines and defense pairs after two straight losses.

“It's a little bit about the energy, the newness of the guys coming in,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It gives us maybe a little bit of juice, right? Hill hasn’t played yet, so you’re hoping, ‘OK, he’s excited to get in there.’ ‘Hutty,’ the same thing. ‘Pav,’ the same thing. So there’s a little bit of that going on.”

Logan Thompson started the first four games for the Golden Knights. He's 2-2 with a 2.35 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.

Hill went 5-10-0 with a 3.72 GAA and an .875 save percentage in his last 16 regular-season starts and hasn’t played since April 18. But he took over during Game 3 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers last season and from that point on went 11-4 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .932 save percentage to help lead Vegas to the Stanley Cup.

“I thought Logan has played well, put us in a good spot,” Cassidy said. “It’s 2-2, done his job. Adin has been through this, so that’s a little bit that goes into the decision. There’s an experienced guy that’s come into this situation before, so that’s essentially the thought process.”

Teams that have taken a 3-2 lead in a best-of-7 NHL playoff series have won the series 78.9 percent of the time (348-93).

Here are 3 keys to Game 5:

1. Golden Knights changes

Among them: Tomas Hertl will move up to the top line with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault, and Dorofeyev will play with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone.

Hertl and Stone each scored on the power play in Game 1 but neither has had a point since. Hertl was recovering from knee surgery when he was acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on March 8 and has played only 10 games (regular season and playoffs) for Vegas. Stone missed the last 26 regular-season games with a lacerated spleen.

“Mark’s been through a serious ordeal,” Cassidy said. “So for him, I think it’s about his teammates got to sort of pull him into it here a little bit till he gets his legs under him, right? He’s missed a lot of time.”

2. Dallas defense

The Stars essentially played five defensemen the past two games with Jani Hakanpää out with a lower-body injury. Nils Lundkvist played 2:21 in Game 3 and 1:09 in Game 4.

Vegas wants to take advantage.

“They’re hiding one of their defensemen, so now you’re playing five ‘D’ all night,” Cassidy said. “Well, make them work in front of their net. Make them expend energy in front of their net. Make them take penalties in front of their net.”

Dallas coach Peter DeBoer played that down. The Stars won the last two games that way and have the last change at home, like they did when Lundqvist played 7:33 in Game 1 and 10:00 in Game 2.

“I don’t think there’s a rule that you have to play six ‘D’ even minutes or anything like that,” DeBoer said. “I think it just depends on the situation.”

3. Desperation

Dallas played with desperation the past two games, not wanting to fall behind Vegas 3-0 in a series for the second straight season. The Stars did just that in the conference final last season and lost the series in six games.

Now they need to seize this opportunity.

“We’ve played this team now last year and this year and have not put them behind in a series at any point, so that’s the goal,” DeBoer said. “Let’s see how they react to that.”

Golden Knights projected lineup

Tomas Hertl -- Jack Eichel -- Jonathan Marchessault

Pavel Dorofeyev -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone

Brett Howden -- William Karlsson -- Michael Amadio

William Carrier -- Nicolas Roy -- Ivan Barbashev

Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Noah Hanifin -- Ben Hutton

Adin Hill

Logan Thompson

Scratched: Paul Cotter, Keegan Kolesar, Anthony Mantha, Zach Whitecloud

Injured: Nicolas Hague

Stars projected lineup

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Wyatt Johnston

Jamie Benn -- Matt Duchene -- Logan Stankoven

Evgenii Dadonov -- Tyler Seguin -- Joe Pavelski

Craig Smith -- Sam Steel -- Ty Dellandrea

Thomas Harley -- Miro Heiskanen

Esa Lindell -- Chris Tanev

Ryan Suter -- Nils Lundkvist

Jake Oettinger

Scott Wedgewood

Scratched: Mavrik Bourque

Injured: Radek Faksa (undisclosed), Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Mason Marchment (undisclosed)

Status report

Karlsson did not participate in the Golden Knights morning skate Wednesday but is expected to play. … The Stars held an optional morning skate and are expected to dress the same lineup they used in a 4-2 win in Game 4 on Monday.

NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report