DALLAS — A monumental performance from Joe Pavelski somehow wasn't enough to seal a Game 1 win for the Dallas Stars in their second-round series opener against the Seattle Kraken.
In a 5-4 overtime loss, Pavelski (38 years, 295 days) became the oldest player in NHL history to score four goals in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The previous record had been set by Maurice Richard (35 years, 245 days) in Game 1 of the 1957 Cup Final.
It was an even crazier outburst considering Pavelski hadn't played since April 17 after sustaining a concussion in the second period of Game 1 of the first round. In fact, he was considered a game-time decision heading into Tuesday's action.
Locked on Stars host Dane Lewis points to the first period as where the Stars kind of lost this one as they in fact appeared lost in giving up four goals - and three unanswered - in the opening frame after jumping out to a 2-1 lead thanks to Pavelski.
He scored both goals to tie things up and force overtime.
"You can knock (Pavelski) down, but he will not stay down," Lewis said. "This is a man determined to do everything in his power to will his team to the Stanley Cup Final and hopefully capture that trophy that has eluded him for the entirety of his career."
It was Yanni Gourde, however, who scored at 12:17 of overtime to give Seattle the Game 1 victory. It was a similar to what happened in Game 1 of the previous series against the Minnesota Wild, also an overtime loss.
"Epic, epic [return]," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said of Pavelski's performance, per NHL.com. "Shame we wasted it and didn't win. That's on our group because he more than did his part. He tried to drag us to a win here tonight.
"Just didn't play hard enough for long enough with enough detail in our game. I think that's what you get this time of year. It reminds me a little bit of Game 1 against Minnesota. We turn it on late, had some chances in overtime, but just need a little bit more for a little bit longer.
DeBoer further chalked it up to "some uncharacteristic mistakes" and Seattle scoring two off missed assignments.
Pavelski and the Stars will get a chance to tie the series in Game 2 in Dallas on Friday.