Jake Oettinger made 25 saves and Jason Robertson scored the go-ahead goal to lead the host Dallas Stars a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series on Wednesday.

Matt Duchene and Evgenii Dadonov also scored goals and Wyatt Johnston added two assists for Dallas, which took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with its third straight win. Game 6 is Friday night in Las Vegas.

“We’ll hang our hats on the fact that we are the defending Stanley Cup champions,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said when asked about the team’s mindset entering a must-win Game 6. “So there is a lot of resolve in the room, a lot of winning in that room, a lot of pride in that room.”

Mark Stone, playing in his 100th career playoff game, and William Carrier scored goals for Vegas. Adin Hill, making his 2024 playoff debut, finished with 22 saves.

Dallas went on top for good at 16:32 of the second period, taking advantage of an Alex Pietrangelo roughing penalty. Robertson, whose first shot from the high slot was blocked by Brayden McNabb, scooped up the rebound and then whipped a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net.

It was Robertson’s third goal of this year’s playoffs and his eighth goal in 11 career postseason games against the Golden Knights.

Vegas had a chance to tie it with 2:44 to go when Chandler Stephenson broke in alone, but Oettinger made a right pad save on his wrist shot from the left side of the crease.

The Golden Knights then pulled Hill for an extra attacker, but Oettinger turned away shots by both Jack Eichel and Stephenson to preserve the win.

“There wasn’t a lot of belief in us after two games, but six days later now we have a chance to close out the Stanley Cup champions,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said about taking a 3-2 series lead after dropping the first two games. “We still have a lot of heavy lifting to do, though.”

Vegas took a 1-0 lead four minutes into the first period on a power-play goal by Stone, who deflected Noah Hanifin’s point shot past Oettinger’s glove side for his second goal of the series and 36th of his postseason career.

Dallas tied it 1-1 just 62 seconds later when Dadonov knocked Logan Stankoven’s crossing pass on an odd-man rush into an wide-open right side of the net for his second goal of the playoffs.

Duchene gave the Stars a 2-1 lead at 8:04 of the first with a power-play goal. In the slot, he backhanded a rebound of a Johnston shot five-hole on Hill.

The Golden Knights tied it at 12:31 of the opening period when Carrier took the puck behind the net and then jammed a shot between the left post and Oettinger’s left pad.

–Field Level Media