Stars waste little time disposing of Golden Knights in OT

After weathering a storm in the third period, the Dallas Stars unleashed a lightning bolt.

Alexander Radulov took a pass from Joe Pavelski on right wing and snapped a wrist shot past Robin Lehner 31 seconds into overtime to give the Stars a 3-2 victory over the Golden Knights and a 2-1 edge in the Western Conference Final inside the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble Thursday night.

The stunning goal on the first shot of sudden death had Radulov using hyperbole during the postgame news conference.

“(Pavelski) saw me flying — I mean, skating — on the other side of the ice, there was kind of nobody there, and then I get into the zone and I just close my eyes and shoot it,” Radulov said after beating Lehner high on the blocker side.

During a follow-up question, he confessed he really didn’t close his eyes.

“He’s a good goalie, and there’s not a lot of room, and I was lucky to beat him,” said Radulov, whose goal made sure another fantastic effort by Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin did not go for naught.

Khudobin,who shut out the Knights in Game 1, saved 38 of the 40 shots he faced and was spectacular during the third period, scrambling and flopping to keep the puck out of his net when Vegas kept the pressure on after forging a 2-2 tie.

“We don’t get into overtime without him,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We don’t win it without his play.”

Radulov’s game-winning goal preceded a wild third period — at least for these two teams — in which the Knights dominated and three goals were scored. The Stars frittered away 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but almost pulled out the win in regulation when Lehner thwarted Jamie Benn at (or just after) the final horn after the puck took a bad bounce off the glass near the Knights’ blue line.

“It’s one shot either way, and we’re not going to sit back,” Bowness said about his instructions to the Stars before the brief overtime. “We’re going to go for it, that was the message. Don’t sit back, attack — we’re at our best when we’re initiating and skating and going north.”

Bowness was happy with the way the Stars came out after losing 3-0 in Game 2, especially with their effort in the second period during which Dallas failed to capitalize on several odd-man rushes.

The Stars finally drew first blood in the closing seconds of the period when Jamie Oleksiak deked Lehner on a breakaway and banked the puck off the goalie’s pad and into the net 17 seconds before the intermission. The towering defenseman skated into the corner and raised both hands — not so much in jubilation but almost out of relief — as the Stars halted a 157-minute scoring drought as well as Lehner’s shutout string of 171 minutes.

Bowness said the goal gave his side a big lift but that he wouldn’t be surprised if the goalies continue to dominate.

“That’s the way it’s gonna go,” he said. “You wanna win the playoffs, your goaltender has got to be there participating.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.