Stars enjoy playing underdog role as Lightning tries to clinch Stanley Cup

“I think we enjoy being called underdogs,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said after his team’s 3-2 win in Game 5. “Every person this whole time we’ve been in the bubble seeming to choose the other team we’re playing, we relish that. We believe in each other, we’ve got a confident group, and we don’t want to leave the bubble. We’re having fun.”

With Corey Perry’s two-goal night — including the winner in the second overtime — Game 5 was Dallas’s ninth comeback win of the playoffs, which tied a franchise record for a single postseason. The Stars had set the mark in 1999, when they claimed the only Stanley Cup in their history. Only one team has collected more comeback wins than the Stars in a single postseason: the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 (10).

“We came here with 51 people, and all those guys in that dressing room believe that we can go out there and get this done,” Perry said. “That’s all that really matters.”

The Stars will try to even the series Monday night, but teams that hold a 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven finals hold a series record of 33-8 (.805).

However, Tampa Bay will have to try to win without its captain, Steven Stamkos. Coach Jon Cooper on Sunday ruled Stamkos out for the rest of the series. Stamkos has missed all but one game this postseason — Game 3 of this series, when he played 2:47 and scored on his first shot before missing the remainder of the game with an undisclosed injury.

“Hopefully the next time we see him on the ice is for a trophy presentation,” Cooper said.

What has the needle shifting Dallas’s way, besides the momentum from Saturday’s win, is the play of its experienced leaders: Perry, 35, and Joe Pavelski, 36. The Stars’ past six goals have been scored by Perry and Pavelski, the oldest players on the roster. Both were also offseason free agent signings.

Pavelski, who has matched Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point for the league lead with 13 goals this postseason, scored his 61st career playoff goal Saturday, giving him the record by a U.S.-born player. Pavelski has 13 goals in 26 games this postseason. During the regular season, Pavelski had 14 goals. Perry has matched his regular season total with five goals this postseason, including three in his past two games.

“With how they playing, I don’t know if you can call them old,” Seguin joked. “They seem to have the best endurance out of all of us. Joe keeps on getting the late goals, and Perry played a great game [Saturday].”

Both players have made it to the finals before, with Perry winning the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. Pavelski led the San Jose Sharks to their first finals appearance in 2016, but he has not lifted the hardware.

“I was a young kid coming into the league, 22 years old, and I had the opportunity to win,” Perry said. “Here we are 13 years later, and we’ve got a chance to do it with this group. In that dressing room we believe we can, and that’s the biggest thing. It’s belief and resiliency throughout this whole season.”

Dallas still has an uphill climb, and Tampa Bay is confident in its ability to rebound and has been in similar situation before during these playoffs. Holding a 3-1 series lead, the Lightning lost Game 5 to the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference finals, only to finish them off in Game 6.

“It’s not easy,” Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow said of trying to shut the door in Game 6 and avoid a Game 7. “Especially when you make it to the Cup finals, you are obviously going to get their best, their hardest push. From series one, two, three, four, that push from the team gets harder and harder.”

Added forward Yanni Gourde: “At the end of the day, that is what playoffs are about. You are not going to win every time, every elimination game. You just got to go out there and play our best during that particular game and go from there.”