"They're our top players, and we scored one goal in two games, so clearly we had to shake it up a little bit," Bowness said. "We know they've been together a lot and you go to them and say, `OK, it's time to get this thing rolling.' We challenged all of our veterans. That line got us going, and that's what we needed."
Even so, they still couldn't break Vegas goalie Robin Lehner, who set a franchise record shutout streak of 171;27. That task fell to Oleksiak, who was sprung on a breakaway with a pass from Miro Heiskanen. Oleksiak broke in and slipped a slick backhand shot past Lehner at the 19:43 mark of the second period. It was a heady move by Oleksiak, who now has four goals in the playoffs, and also a perfect example of the Stars activating their defensemen.
Bowness and the coaching staff worked on getting the defensemen to be more aggressive in their return to play training camp, and the Stars are now averaging three goals a game because of it. Dallas leads the playoffs in defensemen point scoring, and has received big plays in big situations. Oleksiak and Andrej Sekera assisted on Joel Kiviranta's overtime winner to beat Colorado in Game 7. And Thursday's Oleksiak rush was another great example of not being afraid of the moment.
"I was kind of sucking wind on that breakaway, it wasn't the fastest breakaway," Oleksiak said. "It was just a couple of good breaks there. That's playoff hockey, they're not all going to be pretty."
Of course, the harder you work, the luckier you get, and the Stars have been working on making plays just like that.
Likewise, the harder you work, the easier it is to overcome adversity. After Seguin was stoned on a glorious scoring chance by Lehner early in the third period, John Klingberg threw a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, handing the Golden Knights a fresh dose of momentum. Blake Comeau followed with a hooking penalty, and Vegas tied the game when Shea Theodore scored on the power play.