The entire Dallas Stars bench was yelling out to Joe Pavelski about what to do with the puck after a broken play in front of them only seconds into overtime.
Pavelski delivered, with a cross-ice pass to a breaking Alexander Radulov, who scored 31 seconds into overtime on a wrister from the middle of the right circle for a 3-2 victory Thursday night that gave the Stars a 2-1 series lead over the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference final.
"I was flying, no skating, on the other side of the ice, and it was kind of nobody there. [Pavelski] made a good pass, got into the zone, closed my eyes and shot it," said Radulov, later making it clear that he was only joking. "Come on, I didn't close my eyes. … He's a good goalie and there's not a lot of room. I was lucky to beat him."
Radulov's third career overtime goal was his second this postseason, and the only shot in the extra time.
"It's one of those broken plays that happen in hockey and we moved the puck up quickly, and Pavs made the right read," interim head coach Rick Bowness said.
Anton Khudobin had 38 saves, including 16 in the third after giving up two goals earlier in the period. Vegas goalie Robin Lehner stopped 20 shots overall.
Vegas tied the score at 2 with 7:14 left in regulation on former Wild first-round pick Alex Tuch's goal that was challenged by the Stars, who felt there was interference against Khudobin.
