Pavelski scores hat trick in Stars win against Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Joe Pavelski had three goals and an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

It was the 38-year-old's sixth hat trick in the NHL and first since Feb. 24, 2019, when he scored a natural hat trick for the San Jose Sharks in a 5-3 win at the Detroit Red Wings.
"It's incredible what he's doing," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "He looks exactly like he did five, six years ago, like the clock stopped. And he looks like he could do it for another five years. It's hard to explain. He's just a special athlete."

Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist, Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz each had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 32 saves for Dallas (4-0-1).
"I think we understand what that team is over there," Pavelski said. "They have a lot of firepower. They're playing fast, they're playing with some confidence, so the challenge for us was, it's early, we've been playing good, don't take these guys light because they've put it on some teams early. If you mess around with the puck, they can turn and burn and get to you. And you saw that at times. When they had the momentum, they were coming.
"'Jakie' was solid, made all the saves, calmed it down a bit there, and I think our forecheck kind of took over the game there at times."
Arber Xhekaj scored his first NHL goal, and Jake Allen made 25 saves for Montreal (3-3-0), which had won its first three home games.
"It wasn't a consistent 60 minutes from our team," Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin said. "They were consistent for 60 minutes and they won more battles."
Pavelski gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:24 of the first period. He had his back to the net when he took a pass from Benn and lifted a backhand over Allen.
"Those are the little things that he works on, and obviously he's getting pretty good at it," Benn said.
Mike Hoffman tied it 1-1 at 15:35 when he drove the net and scored on a rebound of Kirby Dach's shot.
Pavelski scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds into the second to put Dallas ahead 2-1, and Robertson extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 4:31.

The Stars have scored six power-play goals in five games this season.
Xhekaj cut the lead to 3-2 at 15:58 when he scored stick side on Oettinger with a wrist shot through traffic from the point.
"It felt good, but obviously we were down a goal there and I got scored on right after, so that kind of killed it a bit," Xhekaj said.

Esa Lindell made it 4-2 at 19:43. He scored from the slot with Xhekaj and defense partner Chris Wideman both behind the net.
"At that point in the game, we just scored a big goal," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "We've got to do the job defensively, and we didn't do it."
Pavelski completed the hat trick at 6:53 of the third for the 5-2 final.
"It's a great story for all kids out there," DeBoer said. "I mean, this is a guy that was a late draft pick (seventh round, No. 205 in 2003 NHL Draft). Everyone told him he was too small, too slow. Just keeps rolling out there and proving everybody wrong every night."
NOTES: Pavelski's four-point game was his 20th in the NHL. He is also the oldest player (38 years, 103 days) in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score a hat trick, and the oldest NHL player to have one since Joe Thornton (39 years, 231 days) of the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 18, 2019. … Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, did not play because of an upper-body injury. He is day to day.