3 Keys: Stars vs. Golden Knights, Game 5 of Western Conference Final

No. 3 Stars vs. No. 1 Golden Knights
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS
Dallas leads best-of-7 series, 3-1

The Dallas Stars will look to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years when they play the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday.
"It would be absolutely incredible," Stars center Tyler Seguin said. "That's something that you think about, but you've also got to put it in the side. You've got to stay in the moment."
Dallas has three one-goal wins in the series, including two in a row. Goalie Anton Khudobin has won his past seven games when making at least 30 saves, including 2-1 in Game 4, when he made 32 saves. He made 38 in a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 3.
Since the conference format was adopted for the 1981-82 season, teams with a 3-1 lead in the conference finals are 34-1 (97.1 percent). The New Jersey Devils rallied to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2000 Eastern Conference Final and then won the Stanley Cup.
The Golden Knights have outshot the Stars 130-92 and have a 246-174 advantage in total shot attempts through four games. But they've scored six goals, none from forwards Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault and Alex Tuch.
"Sometimes we need to relax a little bit when we have some chances, take that extra second to find that extra guy or take that extra second to pinpoint where you want to put the puck," Vegas center Paul Stastny said.
Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer is 11-5 when his teams face elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including 1-0 this year (Game 7 win against the Vancouver Canucks in the second round).
Here are 3 keys for Game 5:

1. Khudobin's dominance

Khudobin has allowed three goals on 73 shots (.959 save percentage) in the past two games.
"He's been solid back there for us, making big saves at crucial times," Stars forward Corey Perry said. "He doesn't get fazed. … It's giving everybody confidence on our bench."

2. Traffic jam

The one thing the Golden Knights need to adjust is their net-front presence to make it more challenging for Khudobin.
Stastny said they must have at least one guy in front of the net and others around it hunting for rebounds so they're not disrupting the shot lane but creating havoc for the goalie.

3. Start on time

The Stars were ahead 3-1 after four games against the Colorado Avalanche in the second round, but they admittedly didn't come out with the right mindset in Game 5 and they trailed 5-0 less than 15 minutes into the first period.
They lost 6-3, and that series went to Game 7.
"We know what to expect from a team that has their season on the line," Seguin said.

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Denis Gurianov
Joel Kiviranta -- Roope Hintz -- Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano -- Jason Dickinson -- Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera --
Joel Hanley
Anton Khudobin
Jake Oettinger
Scratched:Nick Caamano, Ty Dellandrea, Jason Robertson, Gavin Bayreuther, Thomas Harley, Landon Bow, Justin Dowling, Taylor Fedun
Unfit to play:Stephen Johns, Ben Bishop, Radek Faksa

Golden Knights projected lineup

Max Pacioretty -- William Karlsson -- Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault -- Paul Stastny -- Reilly Smith
Nick Cousins -- Chandler Stephenson -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Nicolas Roy -- Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez -- Shea Theodore
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Nick Holden -- Zach Whitecloud
Robin Lehner
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:Patrick Brown, Dylan Coghlan, Oscar Dansk, Reid Duke, Deryk Engelland, Nicolas Hague, Keegan Kolesar, Peyton Krebs, Jon Merrill, Gage Quinney
Unfit to play: Tomas Nosek

Status report

Hintz will be a game-time decision, Stars coach Rick Bowness said. It would likely be Dowling or Dellandrea who plays for the first time this postseason if Hintz can't. The center was injured in the first period of Game 4 and didn't return. … Faksa, a center, will miss his second straight game. … DeBoer has not given an update on Nosek's status since the forward missed Game 4.