VEGAS 3 DALLAS 0 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)
Well, that’s more like it. I predicted the Vegas Golden Knights would beat the Dallas Stars in five games and I was quite surprised that the Stars won Game 1, shutting out the Knights 1-0.
But it was a different story Tuesday night as the Golden Knights finally found the back of the net as their forwards scored on a goaltender for the first time in five games, beating the Stars 3-0.
Robin Lehner was back between the pipes after Marc-Andre Fleury got the start in Game 1 and he turned aside all 24 shots to give the Golden Knights the win. It was Lehner’s second straight shutout as he beat the Vancouver Canucks in the decisive Game 7 Friday. Lehner has a shutout streak of 129:36 as he last gave up a goal to Quinn Hughes at the 8:16 mark of Game 6 against the Canucks.
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After a scoreless first period (the Golden Knights must have been wondering if they would ever score again as they did not score on Sunday and scored only four goals in the last three games against Vancouver with two going into the empty net), Vegas finally scored when Max Pacioretty found Paul Stastny alone in front of the net and Stastny promptly put it home.
William Karlsson made it 2-0 with a power play goal. He took a pass from Shea Theodore and wristed the puck past Anton Khudobin from just inside the top of the circle. It was Karlsson’s fourth goal of the playoffs as Stastny drew the secondary assist to give him a two-point night.
Tomas Nosek completed the scoring as all three goals were scored in the second period. It was a gorgeous three-way passing play between Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Roy and Nosek with Nosek receiving the final pass and putting it into the net. It was as nice a goal as you are going to see in hockey.
The return of Ryan Reaves from his one-game suspension really helped the Golden Knights as they seemed to be more confident with Reaves having their backs.
Anton Khudobin got the start in net for Dallas after his 25 save shutout on Sunday and after a perfect first period, he gave up four goals in the second, although the goal by Shea Theodore was called back due to goaltender interference.
Dallas coach Rick Bowness pulled Khudobin at the end of the second period and Jake Oettinger made his NHL debut in the third, stopping all five shots he faced. Khudobin made 24 saves in taking the loss.
The Golden Knights were 1-6 on the power play while Dallas failed to score on their two attempts.
It was a hard-hitting game as Vegas outhit Dallas 55-47. Denis Gurianov and William Carrier each had nine hits while Reaves, Jason Dickinson and Nosek each had six.
Alexander Radulov had three minors with Brayden McNabb picking up a pair of minors.
Andrej Sekera and Nate Schmidt each blocked four shots.
Game 3 will be played in Edmonton on Thursday. Look for Lehner and Khudobin to be back in net for their respective teams.
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NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Paul Stastny – 1
Tomas Nosek – 1
William Karlsson - 1
Assists
Max Pacioretty – 1
Paul Stastny - 1
Nicolas Roy – 1
Shea Theodore – 1
Brayden McNabb - 1
Shots on Goal
Max Pacioretty – 5
Tyler Seguin – 4
Nick Holden – 4
Hits
Denis Gurianov – 9
William Carrier – 9
Ryan Reaves – 6
Tomas Nosek - 6
Jason Dickinson – 6
Penalty Minutes
Brayden McNabb - 4
