In Dallas, the Stars’ Jason Robertson scored at 16:47 of the opening stanza to give them a 1-0 lead over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday evening.
The Stars were looking to even their series with Vegas at 1-1, and the goal seemed to be the tonic they were in need of.
“You’ve got to start with one. They played some good road games and we’ve been a good road team all year, and we’ve got to do it again,” Dallas’ Tyler Seguin said. “Maybe we’re almost being frustrated by last year, knowing how good of a team we are, especially at 5-on-5. We’ll take the day tomorrow, reset, and get excited for this challenge ahead of us.”
But that was not to be, the Golden Knights scored three unanswered goals, one in each period for a 3- win, and 2-0 series lead heading home for Games 3 and 4.
“I’ll go back to as recently as last year they were down 3-0 [in the series] and made it 3-2 in a hurry. I don’t think they’re going anywhere,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Our focus is more we’re going to talk about ourselves and not worry about how Dallas may or may not respond. They’re a good team, they’ll come ready to play. They’re a great road team. They may have the best road record in the NHL. If not, they’re right there. There’s going to be no gimmies in that regard, so it doesn’t matter where we play. We’re getting a strong opponent. We’ve just got to keep building our game.”
Logan Thompson had 20 saves in the win.
“The veteran group we have, losing [Nicolas Hague] was unfortunate but we can just plug [Alec Martinez] back in there, just shows we know how to win,” Thompson said. “We’ve done it all year. We did it last year. That’s just the experience of our group coming through. Just shutting them down and keeping them to the outside, making my life a lot easier.”
Jonathan Marchessault tied the game, 1-1, at 18:09 of the first. he scored off an assist from Jack Eichel.
“I think we expected them to come out and push hard that first 5-10 minutes, and they did,” Eichel said. “They were physical, played hard, they had some chances. [Logan Thompson] made some big stops for us. That’s a very desperate hockey team and a very good one. They gave us all we could handle.”
In the middle frame, Noah Hanifin pushed the Golden Knights into a 2-1 lead at 18:53, he scored off a big rebound in the left circle for the shot.
Eichel iced the win with hen he hit an empty net 19:26 for the 3-1 final count on the scoreboard.
“We didn’t sit back and let them control the play,” Hanifin said. “We checked really well, especially off the rush, we had really good gaps, good back pressure from our forwards. That’s where they’re dangerous is off the rush, and we kind of eliminated those chances. We were still trying to make plays and score goals [in the third], that’s what you want to do when you’ve got a lead.”
Game 3 is set for The Strip on Saturday.
“They’re
the defending Cup champs for a reason. They know how to squeeze it out and finish a game off,” Robertson said. “It’s going to be a grind [to come back in the series], but everyone in here is going to be confident and ready to go.”
Jake Oettinger made 24 saves in the loss.
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