FROM THE — Joe Pavelsky he had a wry smile on his face when asked to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 Stanley Cup playoff series, which was at the frustrating end of nearly 10 years ago.
“They’re no fun when you’re on the other end,” said Pavelski, who played for the San Jose Sharks when they led 3-0 and lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the 2014 Western Conference.
“The one against Los Angeles, yeah, you never think it could happen. The guys are racing. you understand it can happen. It’s happened before. It’s such a fine line this time of year.”
The Stars are hoping to be the last team to pull off the rare feat of winning four in a row trailing 3-0. They will continue their comeback attempt against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, TVAS, SN).
Dallas will once again be without a captain Jamie Bennwho will serve the second of his two-game suspension for his cross-checking of the Las Vegas forward Mark Stone 1:53 into Race 3 on Tuesday. They will also be without a striker Yevgeny Dadonovwho will miss his second game with a lower body injury sustained in a fight with his teammate Roope Hinz in the first period of Game 3.
Despite missing those two players, the Stars avoided elimination with their 3-2 overtime win against the Golden Knights in Game 4 on Thursday, with Pavelski scoring the winner on a 3:18 overtime power play .
As they prepare for Game 5, do the Stars believe in momentum?
“We have no choice but to believe it, right? That’s where we are,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said Friday. “I believe in it and I think there is always a team that gets into this spot and comes out. It doesn’t happen all the time but it happens enough, why not us?”
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The last time that happened was in 2014, when the Kings became the fourth team out of 205 in NHL history to come back from a three-game deficit. The other three were the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals, the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1975 Quarterfinals, and the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Stars feel more confident now, but optimistic words from others never hurt.
Forward Luke Glendening received a quick pep talk from former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo after Game 4.
“It was nice to meet him, but he just said he’s one and you go to Vegas and you know we’ll be waiting for you when you get back,” Glendening said.
To do that, the Stars will have to be at their best, which they don’t believe they have been yet.
“I think Game 2 (3-2 overtime loss) was the closest thing we got to a pretty good game. I think they hit 10 shots in five minutes in the third period,” forward Stars Freemason march She said. “So, I think if we bring that and we bring the energy, we’re tough to beat. So a lot of stuff is on us, and I think we’re ready for it.”
Daniel Briere played on the 2010 Flyers squad that came back from three games down. The Flyers also trailed the Bruins 3-0 late in the first period in Game 7 before they responded with four unanswered goals. Briere scored the tying goal in the second period before Simon Gagne scored the game-winning goal on a power play in the third.
“The longer you go on, the more pressure builds on the other side,” said Briere, who was named general manager of the Flyers on May 11, removing the interim title he had since March 10.
“When you get to that point, I think that’s all you’re trying to do. You’re trying to push as long as possible, then the pressure starts building on the other team.”
Justin Williams, forward of the Kings during the 2014 comeback against the Sharks, recalls the confidence that Los Angeles felt in that series despite the initial 0-3.
“We hadn’t played great (the first three games), but we had that championship pedigree, that kind of bravado from two years ago and the conference final loss the year before, that we can do anything,” he said. the Kings, who won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and won it again in 2014.
“Winning race 4 was important, but I think by winning race 5, after that we were confident we were going to win. We thought we could win games 4 and 5, but we were pretty confident we could win after winning race 5 at San Jose 3 -0”.
The Stars are still alive, they still have a chance to become the fifth team in league history to overcome a three-game deficit. They still have a long way to go, but the conviction is there.
“You’re doing well, suddenly you look and you’re in a 3-0 hole,” Pavelski said. “A couple of overtime losses (also lost Game 1, 4-3 in overtime) and playing good hockey along the way and you just have to keep fielding your game and have the belief that we can buy more time and make more time .
“So we’ll see where that goes. We’re excited for tonight, we’ll rest and try to do it again, keep trying to cast a little doubt in their minds.”
NHL.com staff writers Amalie Benjamin and Tom Gulitti contributed to this report
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