Joe Pavelski of Plover, WI, has had a marvelous National Hockey League career. He has 369 goals and 423 assists for 792 points in 1030 regular season games from 2006 to 2020. On Sunday, Pavelski continued to improve his resume by recording his first career postseason hat trick. Pavelski scored thrice in a 5-4 Dallas Stars win over the Calgary Flames in game four of the Western Conference first round playoff series. With the win, the Stars and Flames are now tied at two games apiece in the best-of-seven series from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Pavelski opened the scoring with a power play goal from John Klinberg of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Tyler Seguin of Brampton, Ontario at 18:11 of the first period with Flames forward Elias Lindholm in the penalty box. Pavelski then put the Stars up 2-1 with a goal from Blake Comeau of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, and Esa Lindell of Vantaa, Finland at 3:14 of the second period.
Then Pavelski delivered his hat trick in dramatic fashion. It came with only 12 seconds left in the third period from Klingberg and Seguin to tie the game at four goals apiece and force overtime.
In the playoffs, Pavelski has 53 goals and 52 assists for 105 points in 141 games. This was his first season with the Stars after 13 seasons with the San Jose Sharks. In 2016, Pavelski was instrumental in helping the Sharks reach the Stanley Cup Final. San Jose lost in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anyway you look at it, game four was a missed opportunity for the Flames to take a stranglehold on the series. For Calgary to regain momentum, they need to show more discipline. The Flames took seven minor penalties, including the final five penalties in the contest. This undisciplined conduct occurred even without Matt Tkachuk of Scottsdale, AZ in the lineup.
Game five of the series is Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. MT. Game six will be Thursday, and game seven, if necessary, will be on Saturday.
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