Thomas Harley scored a power-play goal 1:33 into overtime to lift the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 win against the visiting Winnipeg Jets in Game 6 of their second-round series on Saturday night, advancing them to the Western Conference finals for the third straight season.
Harley received a pass just above the right hash marks and scored with a one-timer. Dallas will face Edmonton in a rematch of the 2024 conference finals won by the Oilers.
Sam Steel also scored and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who bounced back from a 4-0 loss at Winnipeg in Game 5 on Thursday in the best-of-seven series.
“We’ve learned a lot the last two years,” Oettinger said. “All we wanted was this opportunity. The fact that it’s Edmonton makes it even better.
“It’s up to us to take the next step. We should feel great what we have done, but I think our best hockey is yet to come.”
Mark Scheifele scored hours after learning his father died, and Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for the Jets, the Presidents’ Trophy winner during the regular season who were trying to reach the conference finals for the first time since 2018.
“It’s just a heartbreak at the end of it, the way it ended,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “It’s a tough one, but I’m proud of our guys, how they rallied around (Scheifele) all day. We were lifting him up all day to get him out there on the ice to do what he did.”
Oettinger stopped Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway at 5:13 of the second period, but the Jets got the puck back and Scheifele scored 15 seconds later during a delayed penalty — the only penalty called through the first two periods.
Kyle Connor’s wrist shot was saved by Oettinger, but the rebound came in front of the crease and Scheifele was there to push it between Oettinger’s pads for his fifth goal of the postseason.
Scheifele, 32, learned on Saturday morning that his 68-year-old father, Brad, had died suddenly the night before, but Scheifele opted to play.
“Just courageous what he did tonight, and I’m sure his dad would have been really proud of him and what he did, and I’m sure his dad would have wanted him there,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said of Scheifele. “Tough night for him and anybody in the hockey world that has been in a situation like that.”
Scheifele came into Game 6 second on the team in playoff points with four goals and six assists after notching 39 goals and a career-best 87 points during the regular season.
Dallas tied it 1-1 at 11:12 of the second when Harley took a shot from above the right circle and along the wall that Hellebuyck saved, but the rebound shot out to the top of the right circle and Steel was there to score with a one-timer into the top right corner.
Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey had to be helped to the locker room late in the second period with a lower-body injury and he did not return.
Scheifele committed a tripping penalty with 15 seconds left in third period on Steel at the start of a potential breakaway, resulting in the first power play of the game for either team.
The penalty carried into overtime, where Harley scored with 12 seconds left on the man advantage.
“We lost to a great team,” Arniel said. “We lost to a team that was in our rearview mirror all year long … They have a heck of a hockey team and we wish them all the best.”
–Field Level Media
