In Dallas, Miro Heiskanen was credited with the deciding goal in the skills portion of the evening’s affairs with the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, the goal gave the Stars a 3-2 win.
Dallas leads the Knights by four points for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. A regulation win would have eliminated Vegas from the postseason.
“That’s a very good hockey team we played tonight, and it was a [heck] of a hockey game we’re giving our fans tonight,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. “They’re behind us 100 percent. The crowd and the enthusiasm is fantastic. We love the atmosphere here.”
Jason Robertson hit for a double in regulation for the Stars.
Jake Oettinger made 33 saves in the Dallas win.
“Those are the opportunities you want as a professional athlete, to be able to step up for the guys that are in the room,” Oettinger said. “This time of year, you want to be a guy that’s looked upon [to win]. The guys look down in the net and they know I’ll be able to step up for them and be big. Just really happy to have had the opportunity to play in a game like this. To get the win obviously makes it that much better.”
The Stars improved to 45-30-5.
“[Thompson’s] been a warrior for us,” Vegas’ Mark Stone said. “Put into a tough situation, first-year goalie. He had three starts before he was pushed into being our starting goalie for the toughest stretch of hockey of the season. All the props to him, he gave us a chance to win every night. It looks like he has a bright future ahead of him. He’s definitely not the reason we’re in this situation. He battled for us night in and night out.”
Vegas dropped to 42-31-7.
“I thought our guys left everything on the ice tonight,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’ve got a lot of guys playing banged up and they gave us what they had.
“We’ve still got a pulse. We’re not eliminated. I’m proud of our group. I thought we came in and played a [heck] of a road game. Got the lead, was up again. Had some chances to win the game that we just didn’t finish on.”
The Golden Knights took a 1-0 lead off a strike from William Carrier .
Chandler Stephenson scored for the Vegas to give them a 2-1 lead.
Each of Robertson’ s goals tied the game.
“The urgency is something,” Robertson said. “When they scored in the last minute both times, to be able to regroup in the locker room and respond to that is a testament to how we played all year.”
Logan Thompson made 28 saves in the Vegas loss.
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