A day after the Dallas Mavericks lost their playoff opener, the Dallas Stars suffered the same fate, losing 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the NHL Playoffs on Monday night.
Vegas handled the Dallas offensive attack early in the game, and the Stars were forced to play from behind early after Sam Steel was called for a high-sticking penalty 26 seconds into the game. The Golden Knights capitalized, as Mark Stone tipped a shot from the point past Jake Oettinger for the first of two Vegas power-play goals on the night.
And that was just the beginning of a crazy first period that saw the teams combine for five goals.
After Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter appeared to score the game-tying goal, the Golden Knights challenged the play, and the goal was disallowed due to Dallas being offside.
It didn’t take long for Vegas to add to its lead. Just over a minute later, Jonathan Marchessault beat Oettinger to increase the Vegas lead to 2-0.
Stars captain Jamie Benn finally got Dallas on the board with a breakaway goal, sliding the puck past Logan Thompson. However, Vegas once again had an answer, as Tomas Hertl added a power-play goal.
As Dallas appeared to be falling out of the game, rookie Logan Stankoven made an excellent pass on a 2-on-1 with Jason Robertson, who buried the puck into the net to cut the deficit to one. The enjoyment would be short-lived as Vegas’ Brayden McNabb sent a slapshot toward the net early in the second period, and it went undetected over Oettinger’s shoulder into the net.
Dallas had plenty of chances to climb back in the game, frequently getting the puck to the doorstep, but could not convert until Mason Marchment fired the puck past Thompson’s glove with 8:14 left in regulation.
Dallas pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining but could not convert.
The Stars trail the series 1-0 and will try to avoid becoming the second consecutive No.1 seed in the West to be eliminated in the first round. Game 2 between Dallas and Vegas will be played at 8:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday.
“It’s all about your response,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told the media postgame. “If you’re going to win this time of year, you’ve got to respond. I thought we could have won the game tonight, but we didn’t play well enough to make sure we won the game tonight.”
Despite the loss, Dallas remains confident in its chances of winning the series.
“The two series we won last year, we lost game one as well,” Oettinger told the media. “So, we’ve just been here before, and it’s not the end of the world, [but] not the ideal start. Everyone’s going to look at their own game and try to do better next game.”
