In Edmonton, the Vegas Golden Knights rallied with four goals in the third period to give them a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars.
The Stars had struck for three goals, on consecutive shots, in the middle frame to wipe out a 0-1 deficit. The goals came from Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry.
“We just got away from our game,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “There’s only one way to play this game, and that’s the right way. We stopped playing the right way. We just got very soft on the puck. The plays at the blue lines were both very soft, and all that does is give them momentum.
“We just made it too easy for them to play. You’re turning the puck over like we did at the lines, just soft plays. It’s something we didn’t do for 40 minutes. We’ll learn from that.”
Robin Lehner made 24 saves in the win.
“Obviously you want to protect the lead, but I think going into the third we understood it was a big period, that they’d come out and we’d see their best game,” Pavelski said. “We didn’t keep our level high enough. Whether you’re trying to protect the lead or not there’s a certain way we want to play, and we didn’t execute. We didn’t stay on them like we did earlier in the game, going at them, coming at them in waves.”
Chandler Stephenson had staked the Knights to a 1-0 lead in the first period before the Stars’ outburst in the second.
“After [the second period], we talked about it,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “It wasn’t Xs and Os, there was no magical system fix to what was wrong. They were the hungrier team for 40 minutes. They were quicker to pucks. They were more physical. They were hungrier is the best way I could describe it. Until we fixed that, we weren’t going to have any success. That’s where it started. We got some momentum and we played like we should have played for 60 minutes.”
William Carrier, Nate Schmidt and Mark Stone struck in the third period to erase the deficit and give Vegas a 4-3 lead.
“I was just trying to get the puck to the net,” Carrier said. “We tried doing that more in the third period. They’ve got a good goaltender, so we’re just trying to get there and obviously whatever way it takes to get it there.”
William Karlsson scored into an empty net
“I was just trying to get the puck to the net,” Carrier said. “We tried doing that more in the third period. They’ve got a good goaltender, so we’re just trying to get there and obviously whatever way it takes to get it there.”
The Golden Knights will face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Ben Bishop made 28 saves in the loss.
The Stars will play the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
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