As the Stars’ season swung between a second-straight heart-wrenching defeat and an all-square first-round series, Joe Pavelski — their battle-tested net-front dweller — turned behind him on the bench to interim coach Rick Bowness.
“Bones, I’m feeling it,” he said.
“Hey, I’ve got no problem with that. Let’s go,” Bowness replied.
Pavelski proved himself right, scoring three goals in a 5-4 overtime win Sunday over Calgary, saving the Stars from a 3-1 series deficit and evening the best-of-7 series at two wins apiece. Pavelski scored the tying goal with 11.9 seconds remaining in the third period off a rebound, following up on the power-play goal he scored in the first period off a rebound and the second period goal he scored off the rush.
Alexander Radulov won the game for Dallas with 3:55 remaining in the first overtime when he tipped home a John Klingberg point shot.
It was Pavelski’s first career playoff hat trick, and it came in his biggest game since signing with Dallas last summer for three years at $7 million annually.
“It was just an attitude that we were going to find a way to win,” Pavelski said. “Took a while to get that game tied, but there was never a sense that we weren’t going to win once we got to overtime. A couple big plays there, and we were on the right side tonight.”
Pavelski has been the Stars’ most dangerous forward this postseason, a vulture around the net and a sniper on the rush. He leads Dallas with five goals in the playoffs after scoring 14 goals across the entire regular season.
Pavelski lived in the slot Sunday, picking up the trash from point shots and threatening Cam Talbot in transition around the net. He finished the game with a game-high eight shots on goal, 13 shot attempts during 22:38 of ice time.
As much as he helped the Stars on the ice during Sunday’s Game 4 win, Pavelski has been key in helping the Stars craft a resilient, dogged, persistent and stubborn personality as a team. When they allow a back-breaking goal (like in Game 2 or 4), the Stars have responded. When the team has endured tough stretches throughout the season, they have responded.
Pavelski is a big part of that.
“That’s just Joe,” general manager Jim Nill said. “He takes over those situations. Some guys, it just comes naturally, and that’s Joe Pavelski. That’s why he is who he is. That’s why he’s valuable because in the big moments, it’s like osmosis. It comes naturally. That’s what he did today. He scored three big goals.
“There was times probably on that bench during the game, when momentum changes. There’s good momentum and there’s bad momentum, and it’s during the bad momentum that I think he probably steps up and says something to settle the bench down or get it going.”
When the Stars began the season 1-7-1, it was Pavelski who was the calming voice in Pittsburgh that night in October. When the Stars trailed Edmonton in November before clawing back to win in overtime, it was Pavelski who settled the room. On Sunday, Bowness and Tyler Seguin praised Pavelski for his vocal impact on the game.
“He just knows what to do in big moments,” Seguin said. “He knows what to say as well. He stepped up huge for us tonight.”
Bowness added: “You’re seeing what he’s doing on the ice, and I’m listening to what he’s saying in between periods and on the bench, which is just as important. He had a phenomenal game. He felt it.”
Pavelski wore the “C” in San Jose before joining the Stars, and is fifth among active players with 53 playoff goals. Need leadership in the postseason? Need a big goal? The Stars signed Pavelski to do both, and he delivered Sunday.
“You’re just trying to get up for the moment,” Pavelski said. “You understand there are certain parts of the game that need to be simple. Go in with the right mind-set, and go from there. These are the moments we want to play in.
“This is why we put the work in the regular season, to get to a situation like this and test ourselves and our character.”
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