– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — It’s not as if Stars third-pairing defenseman Alexander Petrovic isn’t used to the two-month crucible that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Actually, far from that. But before this spring, the last time Petrovic was called upon to be an integral part of a team’s journey toward capturing Lord Stanley was one year before the onset of COVID-19, and since then, apart from five games over the past six seasons, Petrovic has been a full-timer in the American Hockey League.
Maybe his long road back to the National Hockey League and his professionalism during that process is why, during the Stars’ biggest game of the season to date, Petrovic was the beneficiary of some puck luck, a bounce off his leg — and into the opponent’s net — that checked off the latest step toward his (and the Stars’) quest for the ultimate Stanley Cup Playoffs prize.
Petrovic scored the game-winning goal off a deflection from his skate to end a goal-mouth scramble early in the third period, the first of three unanswered tallies by Dallas to end the game in its 5-2 victory in Game 3 over the Winnipeg Jets inside American Airlines Center. The goal was Petrovic’s second career postseason goal, the last coming 10 years ago as a member of the Florida Panthers, and both goals share a pretty important distinction.
“It was in Brooklyn. It was a game winner, long time ago,” Petrovic said.
Mikko Rantanen continued his red-hot play with a goal and two assists — Rantanen’s fifth game with at least three points in the last six contests — while Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley each had a goal and an assist as Dallas now takes a 2-1 series lead into Tuesday night’s Game 4.
From the 2014-15 season to 2018-19, Petrovic played 250 regular-season games in the NHL — 241 for the Florida Panthers, nine for the Edmonton Oilers. He played 41 in the AHL. But since then, he has played only six regular-season games in the NHL — one for the Stars last season, five for them this season — while playing 341 in the AHL. However, a rash of injuries suffered by the Stars during the second half of the season, including a long-term one to top defenseman Miro Heiskanen, necessitated the call-ups of Petrovic and 2022 first-round draft pick Lian Bischel to the main club, with the pair now making up one-third of the Stars defensive pairings during the postseason.
They both played a big role in the go-ahead goal against the team that secured the Presidents’ Trophy this season.
A rebound from a Rantanen shot popped out to the right of Jets goalkeeper Connor Helleybuck, and the puck hit Petrovic’s left skate just before the goal line and bounced in front. While it was easy enough to tell that one of the bounces was off Petrovic, it was harder to figure out if there was any distinct kicking motion — or any other deflections afterwards — before it hit the stick of Hellebuyck and popped into for the game-winner early in the third.
A long video review ensued before it was eventually ruled a good goal.
“I think any playoff journey you go on has a lot of unsung heroes. [Petrovic] came up last year and did the exact same thing for us in the playoffs,” Stars head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I’ve always liked him, he’s not a career minor leaguer. He’s got a lot of NHL games under his belt. He kind of got to the point in his career where he’s an American League captain. I’ve always liked his makeup and his game. He made a believer out of me last year in the playoffs. When we got to that point of the year this year when we were talking about depth up here, we brought him in and he’s and easy guy for a coach to play.”
As far as Petrovic’s perspective on the goal?
“It was a pretty lucky goal,” Petrovic said. “But it was a good timely goal.”
Yet if the saying is true that the concept of luck is the moment when hard work and opportunity intersecting, then no one who’s still participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs deserved his luck more than Petrovic.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s Game 3, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 24 pictures in total.
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