Heika's Take: 'It's all about the team'

There's a moth that's been following the Stars around the past few days.

It was at the airport in Dallas before the Stars took off on Friday, the hotel in Las Vegas Saturday morning, and the press room at T-Mobile Arena.

Some people consider moths to be signs of transformation and rebirth, and that's where we're going here.

The Stars continue to grow and spread their wings as they try to make history in their best-of-seven Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Nights. Dallas took a 4-2 win in Game 5 on Saturday and the series now sits at 3-2 in favor of Vegas.

It's pretty impressive when you consider the Golden Knights got off to a 3-0 start and Dallas has won two in a row.

"We wanted to keep our season alive," said forward Jason Robertson who scored his fifth goal of the series. "We had to come into this hostile building, play a tremendous team, and get a gritty road win and bring it back to Dallas."

The theme of transformation also goes to the Stars' lineup depth. Luke Glendening has been a healthy scratch in the playoffs but came up with a big goal on Saturday. Thomas Harley jumped onto the Stars roster from the AHL with just six games remaining in the regular season. He had two assists on Saturday and is now second on the team in defenseman scoring with 9 points (1 goal, 8 assists). And Ty Dellandrea bounced back from two healthy scratches to start the series and tallied two huge goals, including the game-winner.

Now that's some impressive rebirth.

All the stories were heartwarming, but Dellandrea's really touched a soft spot.

The Stars' first round draft pick in 2018 (13th overall) spent most of the season in the AHL last year and then earned a spot in the lineup in 2022-23. He played in all 82 games this season and had 28 points but was a healthy scratch twice against Seattle and two more times against Vegas. That could be a tough pill to swallow, but Dellandrea said his teammates helped him out.

"It's hard. There's no denying that it's hard," Dellandrea said, adding that veterans like Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski helped him. "I'm thankful for the older guys on our team. Jamie, Pav, really the whole group. Pav pulled me aside after that Game 7 and just had a real meaningful conversation. So, to be able to have older guys like that, you just make sure you feel ready and part of it. I had a good feeling that another opportunity would come and I had to be ready for it."

When he was, he earned a great deal of respect from his teammates. Goalie Jake Oettinger and Dellandrea are close friends, and Oettinger spent the postgame press conference talking about his teammate.

"It's pretty special," Oettinger said. "He's one of the best guys I've ever played with and he deserves every opportunity he gets. There's no one happier for him than the guys in this room. It just shows you how special you are when you get taken out and he didn't make it about him. It was all about the team. He wanted us to win and the guys that were in for him to do well. I'm so proud of him. I tell him to shoot it all of the time. He's got a great shot."

Glendening added, "It's awesome for him. He's been in and out a little bit, but he's a warrior. He plays hard, he plays the right way every night. I think this group is so happy for him to score those two goals. It was awesome."

And we could say the same thing about Glendening too, who was a healthy scratch in Game 6 against Seattle and Game 3 against Vegas (both losses). When Dallas was down 1-0 on Saturday, Glendening tipped in a goal less than two minutes later. Robertson did the same thing in the second period with his goal just two minutes after Vegas took a 2-1 lead. Each response was a great boost of confidence for the team.

Dellandrea's game-winner in the third period was pure confidence. He busted down the right and fired a shot that deflected in off the stick of a defenseman and past Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who had been nearly unbeatable. The play at the 10:34 mark of the third period broke a 2-2 tie and was a lesson in persistence. It gave Dellandrea a huge boost of confidence and he scored his second goal of the game a minute and a half later when he punched in a rebound off a Max Domi shot.

That was the backbreaker and allowed the Stars to keep the dream alive. They head back to Dallas for Game 6 and will get Benn back from his two-game suspension. It's a wonderful story that still doesn't have an ending.

"That's our group," coach Pete DeBoer said. "Next man up. We got contributions from everybody. It was a gutsy, gutsy win. Being down a couple of guys and coming in here, we talked about taking another bite out of the elephant and we did tonight. We've got a couple of bites left to go, but I like our group. I wouldn't bet against them. "

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: Robertson on the depth scoring is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika