More than a decade since Corey Perry won the Stanley Cup as a young player and years after Joe Pavelski fell two wins short, the greybeards are not ready to leave the bubble and give up on another opportunity for a championship just yet.
Pavelski tied it with 6 minutes, 45 seconds left in the regulation, laid out to block a shot in the first overtime, and Perry’s second goal of the game came in double overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay Lightning and force a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Final.
“Get one, keep going,” Perry said. “We start building here, and I think we’re starting to do something special.”
Photo: Perry Nelson-USA Today
Anton Khudobin made 39 saves and Perry’s winner 9 minutes, 23 seconds into the second overtime was a manner of redemption for the Stars a night after they lost in overtime on a questionable penalty call when Tampa Bay scored on the ensuing power play.
The teams are playing Game 6 is tonight.
Pavelski, 36, and 35-year-old Perry, 35, have combined for the last six Stars goals. So much for hockey being a young man’s game.
“With how they play, I don’t know if you can call them old,” Stars center Tyler Seguin said. “They seem to have the best endurance of all of us. Joe keeps getting the late goals and Perry played a great game.”
The Stars stayed alive despite going down to five defensemen for half of regulation when Andrej Sekera was injured blocking a shot midway through the first. Sekera returned for the third, a gutty performance that might have saved a team who looked to be running on fumes.
“That shows you his compete,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “Give him a tonne of credit for coming back. That was tough.”
The Stars did not have much time to regroup from Friday night’s loss, not with the NHL scheduling the first back-to-back games in the final since 2009 and just the second time since the mid-1950s.
On a night where both teams at times looked worn down, the Stars were able to respond in a big way against healthier opponents.
“They’re a good team,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. “They fought back.”
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