Jason Robertson’s ‘controlled desperation’ in 2-goal performance keeps Stars’ season alive

Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said Thursday morning that the desperation had officially kicked in for the Stars trailing 3-0 entering Game 4.

But DeBoer said it couldn’t be just any desperation that showed up on the ice hours later.

“It has to be controlled desperation,” he said.

After Vegas took a 1-0 lead just 4:17 into the game, the need for a last-ditch effort by the Stars to save their season intensified.

And for Stars forward Jason Robertson, instinctual desperation kicked it.

His performance over the next 28 minutes may have been a better display of “controlled desperation” than DeBoer could’ve drawn up himself.

Robertson single-handedly brought the Stars back in the game after trailing twice — once in the first period and once in the second — to force overtime and give his team a shot at keeping its season alive.

His first goal came on the Stars’ first power play of the day. Robertson scored on a triple-tip to himself, bouncing it off Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill and his own stick before tipping it into the net.

He scored his second on a backhand over Alec Martinez into a wide-open net, marking his first career multi-goal playoff game and putting him on hat-trick watch.

Robertson’s night marks a stark contrast from when the team was preparing for the series just a week ago.

Amid an eight-game scoring drought, the Stars’ leading scorer in the regular season was nowhere to be found in the series against Seattle. Robertson, DeBoer and his teammates fielded countless questions about concern for his production and whether the Stars could keep their season alive if his slump continued.

Little did they know, it was the 23-year-old who prevented his team from suffering just its second playoff series sweep in franchise history.

Robertson scored in three of Dallas’ four games against Vegas — the only Dallas player to score multiple goals in the series. He tied Vegas’ William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault for most goals in the series. He and Karlsson were the only two to record multi-goal performances.

After keeping his team in it all game, it was Robertson’s linemate Joe Pavelski that sealed the win on an overtime power-play goal 3:18 into extra time.

Robertson and his linemates booked a return trip to Vegas to continue their efforts at becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to recover from a 3-0 playoff deficit.

As the Stars pick up the pieces from a dismal start to the series, they’ll continue to lean on Robertson — one of the few in the locker room who seemed to have this series figured out from the start.

Twitter: @Lassimak

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.