Olofsson expected to shine again for Stars in Game 5

Fredrik Olofsson's last regular season game was April 6.

The winger, who turns 27 on Saturday, has been dutifully practicing and training for six weeks in hopes of getting a chance to help his team. That chance came on Thursday and Olofsson didn't disappoint.

With Jamie Benn on a two-game suspension and Evgenii Dadonov out with a lower-body injury, the Stars called on Olofsson to jump into a must-win Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights, and he was a key catalyst in a 3-2 overtime win.

Olofsson played 10:04 and had five shots on goal. It was an inspired performance.

"He was great," linemate Luke Glendening said. "I give him a ton of credit. He's been working so hard in the gym, and it's not easy when you're not in the lineup. I don't even know when his last game was . . . maybe two months?"

Olofsson's potential "rust" was one of the reasons the coaching staff pondered using a player called up from the AHL. Mavrik Bourque and Rhett Gardner just finished a playoff run with the Texas Stars. Gardner had four goals and four assists for eight points in eight games, so it would have been easy to look at him as the hot hand.

"The argument for using them was those guys just finished playing," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "They were coming off game-ready situations. The argument against, and why we dressed Olofsson, was he's been with our group the last month and a half practicing every day, traveling. He's been a real good soldier for us. He hasn't had that game readiness, but I think we made the right decision. I thought he came in and did a really good job."

Olofsson has been a good soldier all year for the Stars. Born in Sweden, Olofsson played American Junior hockey in Chicago and was drafted by the Blackhawks in 2014 (fourth round, 98th overall). He played at the University of Nebraska Omaha for four years and then played two games in the AHL in 2019. After that he returned to Sweden for three seasons before signing with the Stars as a free agent last summer.

Olofsson bounced back and forth between the Stars (28 games) and the AHL (37 games) and did a great job when the team was tight to the salary cap in midseason and had to send players back and forth on a daily basis. He finished with one goal and three assists for Dallas and has waited for his chance.

"He did a great job," said forward Mason Marchment. "His legs were churning, he was pushing the pace, and he definitely played a great game. He had a great chance there in the third. It was huge to have him come in and bring the energy."

Now, he will get the chance to do it again.

Key Numbers

3.88

The Stars goals against average in the playoffs this year is 3.88. They are 2.44 at home. Dallas had a 2.49 road GAA during the regular season.

10

Ten is the number of shots on goal Vegas had for the first two periods in Game 2 against Dallas. Vegas finished with 24 and won a 3-2 game in overtime.

11

Stars forward Jason Robertson had 11 shots on goal in Game 4, including two goals. He has 53 shots on goal through 17 playoff games, the most for the Stars.

He said it

"It's not a great formula if we want to win games. We have to fix that. You can't understate it. The numbers show whoever scores first wins most of the games. That's something we've got to concentrate on and make sure we come out of the gate ready to play."

• Stars coach Pete DeBoer on not scoring first in Game 4.

Expected lineup

Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Johnston-Seguin
Kiviranta-Domi-Dellandrea
Olofsson-Faksa-Glendening

Suter-Heiskanen
Lindell-Hakanpää
Harley-Hanley

Oettinger
Wedgewood

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: Glendening on the team's depth and focus. is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika