In Edmonton, the Dallas Stars’ Anton Khudobin made 25 saves in a 1-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday evening.
“We knew the start of the game was going to be important tonight and I thought our team came out with a good effort,” Dallas’ Jamie Benn said. “We played on our toes tonight and found a way to get one early there, and I thought [Khudobin] made a lot of great saves, especially in the third period. We found a way to squeak it out.”
The win gives the Stars an early 1-0 lead in the series.
John Klingberg struck for the game’s only goal at 2L30 of the opening frame.
“Mostly happy with the win,” Khudobin said. “[The shutout is] a bonus I would say. Even if we win 2-1 or 3-2, doesn’t matter. For me, the win is the most important.”
Vegas was scoreless in four power play attempts.
“We’re not really happy with how we played in the third period,” Klingberg said. “I think we had a few chances to score 2-0 within the second period. [Khudobin] stepped up today and played a great game for us. He won the game for us. I think we gave them a little too much life in the third period, but we’ll take it. We’ll move on and we’re up 1-0 (in the series).”
Vegas suffered its second shutout in three games.
“They were exactly what we expected them to be,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “They make you work for your offense, and if you’re not willing to work for offense and support offensively, they’re not going to hand it to you, and I think that was the case tonight.
Vegas had only 12 shots on goal through two periods, and 25 for the game.
“Tonight it just took us too long to get into the game, took us too long to get that energy, that fire, that bravado that you need to play in these types of games,” the Knights’ Nate Schmidt said. “You’re in the final four. Every team is good here.”
Game 2 is set for Tuesday night.
“We came out of the gates strong,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “I know we only scored one goal, (but) we had lots of opportunities tonight and Fleury was outstanding for them as Khudobin was for us. But that’s Dallas Stars hockey.”
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Golden Knights Highlights]
Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the loss.
“I thought [Fleury] gave us the best chance to win tonight. He was fresh,” DeBoer said. “He’s played well against Dallas (4-0-0 with Vegas prior to the loss) and he gave us a great game. I thought he was our best player. He gave us a chance to hang around when we didn’t deserve to be in the game early.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.