It’s about Ty: Dellandrea nets 2 as Stars stay alive
-
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
LAS VEGAS — A healthy scratch to start the series, Ty Dellandrea scored two pivotal, third-period goals in the Dallas Stars‘ 4-2 victory on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.
The win kept the Stars’ season alive for at least two more days. Game 6 is Monday night in Dallas.
Dellandrea’s winning and insurance goals also came with another accomplishment in that it guaranteed Stars captain Jamie Benn will return for Game 6 after being suspended for the past two games for a cross-check on Golden Knights captain Mark Stone in Game 3.
“It’s a lot of desperation, we have a lot to play for here,” Dellandrea said. “Our group’s really come together and leaned on one another. Guys have stepped up. … We’ve really been leaning on one another and playing for a lot here. It’s been a group effort for sure.”
Stars defenseman Thomas Harley set up Dellandrea’s goal by breaking up a Golden Knights’ entry with his stick, passing it to Joel Kiviranta, who then played a diagonal cross-ice pass to Dellandrea for what was a 1-on-3 rush.
Creating time and space was a challenge, yet Dellandrea temporarily had both right when he launched a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle. Even then? His window started to close when Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo tried closing down on the shot only to have the puck deflect off his stick and sneak just underneath Adin Hill‘s glove to give the Stars a 3-2 lead with 9:27 remaining in the third period.
Barely 90 seconds later, Dellandrea scored again to practically guarantee Game 6.
Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud was behind the net when he tried playing the puck off the boards that led to Stars forward Max Domi scooping a loose puck that he tried throwing on net as he was being pushed from behind. Dellandrea recovered the rebound and lifted a shot over Hill to double the lead with 7:58 remaining.
Dellandrea said after Game 4 that he’s been more mindful about utilizing his shot which led to him referencing a scoring chance he felt he should have converted in Game 5.
“It shows how special you are when you get taken out and it’s he didn’t make it about him,” Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger said of Dellandrea, who is one of his closest friends on the team. “It’s all about the team. He wanted us to win. When you get your opportunity to step up and that’s what he did. I’m so proud of him. I tell him to shoot it all the time. He’s got a great shot, so, I’m happy it was him.”
Finding secondary and tertiary scoring became a priority for the Stars considering Benn was suspended and that Evgenii Dadonov suffered a lower-body injury early in Game 3 that has led to him missing the last two games.
Dellandrea’s goals helped fill that void. So did the second-period goal by Luke Glendening, who has now scored two goals in 16 playoff games after scoring three goals in 70 regular-season games.
Now add what Jason Robertson has achieved to this point for the Stars in the conference final. A 100-point scorer in the regular season, he didn’t score in the second round. But in the conference final, he’s become one of the Stars’ most consistent players. He scored the first game-tying goal, which means he’s accounted for five of the 12 goals the Stars have scored against the Golden Knights in this round.
Those contributions add to the composite of how the Stars are among the deepest teams in the playoffs. They’ve had 16 players score at least one goal in the postseason — the same number as the Golden Knights.
It’s another reason why Benn’s return has a chance to be crucial. It gives the Stars a forward who scored 33 goals in the regular season and has added to those totals with 11 points in 16 playoff games before his suspension.
“Our whole thought process was we win two games, and we get him back,” Glendening said of Benn. “[We] didn’t want his season to end that way and wanted to give him the opportunity to play again.”
Benn’s return for Game 6 on Monday could also lead to one of two outcomes.
Either the Golden Knights will win the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Final to face the Florida Panthers.
Or the Stars will tie the series and return for Game 7 with a chance to advance to their second Stanley Cup Final in four seasons.
Yet what makes the Stars’ recent accomplishments even more intriguing is the context that comes with teams that have trailed in a series. The Panthers rallied from a 3-1 hole in the first round to upset the Boston Bruins before they eventually punched their ticket to what is just the second Cup final appearance in franchise history.
And there’s also a bit of the personal experience Stars coach Pete DeBoer has when it comes to mounting a comeback. DeBoer was in charge of the San Jose Sharks when they fell into a 3-1 hole in the 2018-19 playoffs before they won the series in seven games.
The opponent? It was the Golden Knights.
“I don’t think you can compare any series to any other series,” DeBoer said. “But I know our group and we weren’t happy about being in the hole we were in, and they’ve decided to do something about it. Now, we’re rolling.”
-
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame players and coaches linked arms in the northeast corner of the field late Friday, waiting to sing the alma mater for the final time at home in 2024.
After a slight delay, coach Marcus Freeman bounded into the group, pumping his first toward the student section before the band began to play. No. 7 Notre Dame had beaten No. 10 Indiana 27-17, using a familiar formula of stifling defense, big-play runs and relentless physicality to overwhelm a lesser opponent, just like the Fighting Irish had done for most of the season.
But Friday’s win and setting was different. A Notre Dame program steeped in history became the first to win a campus College Football Playoff game. The Irish, who had not won a CFP contest before, played their first Friday home game since 1900 before a full-throated crowd, many of whom came to campus on a snowy morning and celebrated throughout the day and night.
Freeman, fresh off a new contract in his third season as Notre Dame’s coach, took a moment to enjoy the scene.
“I’ve never been part of an environment like that,” Freeman said. “Not many times in life you’re the first to do something, and as I told the [team] in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. That’s historic. Something we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.”
Defensive coordinator Al Golden, whose group drove Notre Dame into the CFP and overwhelmed Indiana for much of Friday’s game, doesn’t walk around campus or the team’s facility with blinders on. He absorbs the national championship banners and other symbols of the program’s distinct path.
“The lineage is so strong and so storied that it’s hard to come about something that’s the first,” Golden said. “So everybody in that locker room, everybody that’s a part of it, can say that for the rest of their lives.”
Notre Dame ensured that its first home CFP game would not be its last of the season, jumping ahead 14-0 after Jeremiyah Love‘s 98-yard touchdown run and a 16-play, 83-yard drive capped by a Riley Leonard pass to Jayden Thomas.
Love’s run through the left side of the line marked the longest play in CFP history, the longest run by an FBS player this season and the longest play Indiana has ever allowed, and it tied for the longest run in Notre Dame history (Josh Adams in 2015 against Wake Forest). The sophomore isn’t fully recovered from a knee injury sustained in the regular-season finale at USC and had been dealing with an illness.
“He is the engine that sparks this thing to go in a real positive direction,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said.
Love said he was “gassed” after crossing the goal line, and after the game his voice sounded weak and could barely be heard as he spoke to reporters. He logged only eight carries in the game but made sure no Indiana defender could chase him down on his most impactful play.
“I was looking up on the videoboard, [and] he wasn’t going to catch me,” Love said. “I slowed down. I knew I was going to score.”
Safety Xavier Watts set up Love’s touchdown with an interception and propelled Notre Dame’s defense with 10 tackles. The Irish kept Indiana’s offense out of the end zone until less than 90 seconds remained and turned away the Hoosiers on 8 of 12 third-down opportunities while racking up three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
Notre Dame led 17-3 at halftime and 27-3 with 4:50 left before Indiana scored two late touchdowns.
“They pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said.
Leonard rebounded from an interception on his first pass attempt to complete 23 passes for 201 yards and had two total touchdowns in his final game at Notre Dame Stadium. Leonard spread the ball to 10 receivers, including wide receiver Jordan Faison, who set a career high with seven receptions.
A Duke transfer and Alabama native, Leonard will continue his quest closer to home in the CFP quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Georgia at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. Notre Dame has lost 10 consecutive major bowl games since its last win in a marquee New Year’s Day game, the 1994 Cotton Bowl.
“This is special for us,” Leonard said. “My freshman year, I went 3-9 [at Duke] and was just begging to make a bowl game. To be playing in the Sugar Bowl right now, I’ve got to go full circle. It’s really cool. We’re just staying alive, and we’re just trying to play as many games as we can.”
Notre Dame’s win might have come at a cost, as starting defensive tackle Rylie Mills did not return after sustaining a right leg/knee injury when sacking Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on the first series of the second half. The Irish also dealt with injuries to offensive lineman Rocco Spindler and defensive lineman Bryce Young.
Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that he has “optimism” about Mills, whose injury likely won’t end his season. Mills leads Notre Dame with 7.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.
“We just got to get him right here in the next 10-11 days and get him ready for this upcoming contest down in New Orleans,” Freeman told Van Pelt.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jeremiyah Love tied the Notre Dame record with a 98-yard touchdown run, Riley Leonard added two more scores and the Fighting Irish shut down the highest-scoring team in the College Football Playoff, overwhelming Indiana 27-17 on Friday night.
The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (12-1) won their 11th straight — and their first playoff victory. They’ll face second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman got the biggest win of his three-year career by extending his Irish record to 12 victories over ranked teams in three seasons.
“There’s no place like Notre Dame,” Leonard said. “This is why you come here, this is why I came here — to play for a championship.”
Tenth-seeded Indiana (11-2) completed a magical season by finishing with its second fewest points this season on a cold, brisk night in the first CFP game ever played on a campus site. Both of the Hoosiers’ losses came to top-five opponents. Indiana set a single-season school record for wins but still hasn’t won at Notre Dame since 1898.
Notre Dame took control on its third offensive play when Love scooted around the right side of Indiana’s defense, eluded one tackle and sprinted down the sideline to make it 7-0. He matched Josh Adams’ longest run in school history, set in 2015 against Wake Forest. It was also the longest run in CFP history.
“It’s all about finding a way to get another week,” Freeman said. “It wasn’t easy. But we’re going to enjoy this one and we’ll get another one.”
Love finished with eight carries for 108 yards despite appearing to reinjure his left knee later in the first half.
Indiana never recovered after Notre Dame made it 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Leonard’s 1-yard TD run late in the fourth gave him 15 this season to break Notre Dame’s season record by a quarterback.
Indiana scored both of its touchdowns in the final 1:27.
Notre Dame made it 14-0 on Leonard’s 5-yard TD pass to Jayden Thomas early in the second quarter. The Irish settled for three more field goals, and the defense took care of the rest — allowing just one field goal.
Leonard was 23 of 32 with 201 yards and one interception. Notre Dame receiver Jordan Faison caught seven passes for 89 yards.
Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke turned in another poor game against a top defense, finishing 20 of 33 with 215 yards, with two TDs and one interception, and the Hoosiers rushed for just 63 yards.
“They took it to us,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. “They won, they deserve to win. We didn’t play our best game, but they had a lot to do with that tonight.”
Notre Dame: The Irish have relied on the running game and defense all season — and it was that combination that gave Notre Dame the first playoff win in school history. It may need more out of its passing game to win its first national championship since 1988.
Notre Dame: Plays Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway