After one season-saving win, Stars must repeat same resiliency in Game 6

Game 6: Stars vs. Lightning (Tampa Bay leads 3-2)

Both the Stars and Lightning have been resilient this year, and both will need to be again if they hope to hoist the Stanley Cup.
Tampa Bay took a 3-1 lead in the series based on an overtime victory in Game 4. Dallas stayed alive with in double overtime in Game 5. Now, the two will keep the fight going Monday in Game 6.
"At the end of the day, that's what the playoffs are about," said Tampa Bay center Yanni Gourde. "You're not going to win every time, every elimination game. We've just got to go out there and play our best, try to win that particular game and go from there. I mean, we've been in those situations before, and we're going to go out there and work hard and try to get the win."
Dallas feels the same way. It bounced back from a 2-1 third period deficit in Game 5 to tie the game and then won it in the second extra stanza after a slow first overtime.
"We've got a team that has come back all year long in third periods," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "The playoffs, we've done the same thing. So we didn't look at, 'OK, we're down 3-1.' We looked at it, 'We can win this game,' and kept the focus on all the details that we have to do better."
The Stars did that in Game 5, getting improved goaltending and taking just one penalty. Those were keys to keeping the score low and keeping the game at even strength.

"If we can keep our feet moving and keep our sticks on the ice, you find yourself taking a lot less penalties," Bowness said.
For the Lightning, they have yet to lose two games in a row in the playoffs. That's a great stat to fall back on.
"I really like how we've responded after losses," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's not going to guarantee future success, but there's a focus with this group."
That said, if the Stars can win and force a Game 7, that brings a whole new element of adversity and pressure to the finals.
"We've been in this situation before," Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said, referring to the Eastern Conference finals, where Tampa Bay lost in overtime in Game 5 and then won in overtime in Game 6 against the Islanders.
"We're a resilient group, we know how to respond to adversity. We were up 3-1, now it's 3-2, so you just got to go out and get the next one. That's our focus."

Klingberg continues to step up game

While Miro Heiskanen has carried the Stars through much of the playoffs and leads the team with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 26 games, John Klingberg has been a bigger factor in the Stanley Cup Final.
Klingberg has a goal and four assists in five games, including the winning goal in double overtime in Game 5. It was a patient shift in which the right-handed Klingberg circled backward and drifted along the blue line, waiting for just the right moment to uncork his shot. Klingberg got the puck through and Corey Perry pounced on the rebound.
"I think he's one of the best guys in the league at just walking the blue line, finding that space and being able to attack it," said Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. "I think he's really shifty, and I think it's been a huge strength in his game. You saw last night that created that big scoring opportunity for Perry. He's always been really good at it, and obviously, it's shining this playoffs."

The Stars coaching staff emphasized at the beginning of the playoffs that Stars defensemen had to get involved in the play, and now they have produced the second highest point total for a team blueline in Stanley Cup history with 67 points. Klingberg has 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 25 games and has been a big part of helping drive the pace of the game for the Stars.
Mix in the shot from the blue line, and he's doing a lot of things well.
"Tampa's done a really good job pressuring our D at the offensive blue line. Now you've got to have mobility, you've got to have your eyes up. You've got to have the ability to get that puck down by the net. You hope it gets through," Bowness said. "We're yelling at the forwards, get to the net, get to the net, get to the net and there's no pucks coming, so that frustrates the forwards.
"We put a lot of pressure on our defense. If we're going to tell our forwards to get there and take a beating, you've got to make sure the puck is there, and John is very good at doing that."

Perry making the most of his trip to Final

Corey Perry was in a big slump, but he's broken out in a big way.
Perry had gone 12 games without a point and 19 games without a goal, but he snapped that drought in Game 4 with a goal and then added two goals in Game 5 Saturday.
It was a nice story for Perry, who helped the Anaheim Ducks win the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2007, but then was bought out by the Ducks last summer. He signed a one-year deal with the Stars with plenty of incentives -- and now he's cashing in on those.
"I was a young kid coming into the league, 22 years old, and I had the opportunity to win," Perry said. "Here we are, 13 years later, and I got a chance to do it with this group. In that dressing room, we believe we can."
With three forwards out with injuries, the Stars have juggled their lines and put Perry with Tyler Seguin and Joel Kiviranta. The combination has worked in the past two games as Perry has three goals and Seguin has five assists.

"Corey's a big guy. He's always in those hard areas," Seguin said. "Composure, a lot of experience, passion, drive. Guys that have been there and know how hard it is to get these moments and don't want to have any regrets. That's what this is all about."
Perry's wife, Blakeny, is one of the few relatives who have been able to go through the quarantine and get into the bubble, and Perry has responded well to her presence at games. Perry left his family in Ontario to come to Dallas for training camp, so this has been a long absence. He still hasn't seen his son Griffin for a while, but said he appreciates all that Blakeny has done while he has been chasing his dream.
"It's great to have her here," Perry said. "She counted that it was exactly 100 days since I had seen her or the kid. I still haven't seen the little guy…She's a rock back home. She's done a lot for our family. It's nice to have her here."
And nice that he's playing his best at an important time.
"This is why we went out and signed him and Joe," Bowness said of signing Perry and Joe Pavelski as free agents. "You get to this point in the playoffs, and you need guys that have been there. You need the guys that know how to win, that aren't intimidated by the situation. Corey fits that bill."

By the numbers

Minus-6

That's the plus-minus for Hedman in the Stanley Cup Final. He was leading the NHL in playoff plus-minus at plus-19 entering the series.

67

Dallas defensemen have accounted for 67 points (17 goals, 50 assists) in these playoffs, most in franchise history by a group of defensemen in a single playoff year. It is the second most in NHL history, trailing only the 1984-85 Oilers, who had 77 points.

9

Dallas overcame a 2-1 third period deficit in Game 5, marking the ninth time they have registered a comeback win this playoff season. That ties the franchise record, set in 1999.

He said it

"To be honest, I didn't think he was playing at all in these playoffs. I don't think any of us did. So, he gave us 2:47 of brilliant hockey that's a phenomenal story, scored a huge goal for us in a win and hopefully we can keep that momentum."
-- Cooper on the fact captain Steven Stamkos will miss the rest of the playoffs with an injury

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Joe Pavelski - Alexander Radulov
Joel Kiviranta - Tyler Seguin - Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano - Jason Dickinson - Nick Caamano
Mattias Janmark - Justin Dowling - Denis Gurianov
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak - Miro Heiskanen
Joel Hanley - Andrej Sekera
Anton Khudobin
Jake Oettinger
Unfit to Play:Stephen Johns, Ben Bishop, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz, Blake Comeau
Scratched:Jason Robertson, Ty Dellandrea, Thomas Harley, Gavin Bayreuther, Landon Bow
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.