3 Keys: Flames at Stars, Game 3 of Western First Round
Calgary offense looks to break out; Dallas hopes Oettinger, defense keep up intensity
The Dallas Stars will try to keep the high-powered Calgary Flames offense contained when they play Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Jake Oettinger made 29 saves for his first playoff shutout in his second playoff start in the Stars' 2-0 Game 2 win on Thursday. He has made 49 consecutive saves and has not allowed a goal in 114:59, dating back to the first period of Game 1, a 1-0 loss on Tuesday.
The series has been tight and intense, and the Stars are ready for more of the same.
"We've been in a playoff race since Christmas, or even earlier," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. "What you don't see with Calgary, you see their top players and how good they've been all year and how much points they've put up on the board and stuff like that and they're a very high-scoring team, but they're really solid defensively too. They don't give up much. I think they know how we play, and they know we're not going to give up a lot either."
The Flames averaged 3.55 goals per game in the regular season, sixth in the NHL. Despite not scoring since forward Elias Lindholm's power-play goal 5:01 into the first period of Game 1, the Flames aren't getting frustrated.
"We want to score more goals, of course. But there's opportunities there for us to score and I think we just have to get more traffic and bodies and pucks to the net and I think that scoring will come," Calgary forward Andrew Mangiapane said. "I think the way we're playing defensively and kind of connected all five together, it's good. It needs to be continuing like that. But as far as the offense, just kind of getting that greasy one or bearing down on some of our chances and it's a different kind of storyline there."
Stars coach Rick Bowness said forward Marián Studenič will play in Game 3, replacing Alexander Radulov on the fourth line.
"We have fresh legs, and we want to use them," Bowness said. "We want to put a little more pressure on them, you need speed to do that, so we're going to put Marian in tonight."
When a best-of-7 series is tied, the winner of Game 3 holds a series record of 228-110 (67.5 percent), including a 4-3 record in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Here are 3 keys for Game 3:
1. Pavelski keeps on going
Joe Pavelski scored in the first period in Game 2. At age 37 years, 298 days, Pavelski became the oldest skater to score a playoff goal for the Stars since Mike Modano (37 years, 342 days) in Game 4 of the 2008 Western Conference Finals. It was Pavelski's 13th game-winning goal in the playoffs, tying him with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin for the most among active skaters.
Considering how tips, redirects and deflections loom so large in the playoffs, don't be surprised if Pavelski, the master of them, has a few more coming.
2. Flames want to frustrate Oettinger
Forward Blake Coleman said Calgary hasn't done a good enough of job getting pressure and traffic on Oettinger. The right wing said he and his fellow third-line forwards, left wing Dillon Dube and center Calle Jarnkrok, will make it a point of emphasis in Game 3.
"Obviously our line takes a lot of pride in O-zone time and generating O-zone chances," Coleman said. "We need to get to the net a little bit more, get in his eyes and make it more difficult for him. It's kind of the cliché playoff expression, I guess, but it's true: any goalie's going to look good when he can see the puck and there's no second opportunities. We've had not enough of those through the first two games, and it needs to be a different story tonight."
3. Battle of penalty kills
You could either say the power plays for the Flames and Stars have been futile or you can say the penalty kill for each team has been strong. We'll go with the latter.
The Flames are 7-for-7 and the Stars are 7-for-8 on the kill. Count on each team to still get their power-play chances, especially with how feisty this series has been in the first two games. But both teams come with strong goaltending and defense, so power-play goals will be hard to come by.
Flames projected lineup
Johnny Gaudreau -- Elias Lindholm -- Matthew Tkachuk
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Tyler Toffoli
Dillon Dube -- Calle Jarnkrok -- Blake Coleman
Milan Lucic -- Trevor Lewis -- Brett Ritchie
Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylington -- Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Scratched:Adam Ruzicka, Ryan Carpenter, Michael Stone, Connor Mackey
Injured: None
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Michael Raffl -- Jamie Benn -- Denis Gurianov
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening
Marian Studenic -- Tyler Seguin -- Joel Kiviranta
Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Joel Hanley -- Jani Hakanpaa
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Thomas Harley, Jacob Peterson, Alexander Radulov, Andrej Sekera
Injured:None
Status report
The Flames are expected to have the same lineup as Game 2. ... With Radulov out of the lineup, Namestnikov is expected to see time on the power play.
