Hockey Gods rewarded Stars as series turns into best-of-3
Dallas Stars coach Jim Montgomery just about predicted his team’s surge in Game 4.
Moments after Monday’s 3-2 loss in Game 3, Montgomery didn’t mince his words.
“I think we’ve been the better team two out of three games,” he said. “We keep playing like that, usually the hockey Gods get back on your side.”
Sure enough, the Stars, helped by the hockey Gods or not, blew the Nashville Predators off the ice early in Game 4 to even their best-of-seven series. Game 5 is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Now, it’s a best-of-three, with Game 6 set for Monday back at American Airlines Center. Game 7, if necessary, will be back in Nashville on Wednesday night.
“Now we get to play aggressively and play on our toes and hopefully push the series,” Montgomery said after the Game 4 win.
So why was Montgomery brimming with such confidence after a potentially knee-buckling Game 3 loss?
“I’m a process-oriented coach and when our process is good and we’re winning the process and we’re staying in the moment and we’re winning foot races and battles, I said the hockey Gods are going to turn on our side and [Wednesday night] … that’s us getting rewarded for playing the right way as a team,” he said.
His players didn’t panic and looked looser — not scared — from the start of Game 4.
“We stayed patient and trusted the process,” Tyler Seguin said. “That’s the goal every night, win the process.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2019 at 1:40 PM.
