Noah Hanifin scored the eventual game-winner midway through the third period and Adin Hill made 23 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights avoided elimination with a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference first-round series on Friday night in Las Vegas.
It was the third postseason shutout of Hill’s career, each of which has come against the Stars. Mark Stone added an empty-netter with 18.9 seconds left for Vegas, the defending Stanley Cup champion.
Game 7 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Dallas with the winner to face the Colorado Avalanche.
Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of 29 shots for the Stars, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Hanifin, obtained from the Calgary Flames on March 6 as part of a three-way deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, scored his second-career playoff goal at the 9:54 mark of the third period to break a scoreless tie.
Hanifin picked up a loose puck near the top of the right circle and then skated in and fired a wrist shot that hit the stick of Stars defenseman Ryan Suter and caromed inside the far right post.
“I saw a little bit of room. The puck kind of flipped out there and just tried to get it on net,” Hanifin said. “Their (defenseman) kind of screened their goalie a little bit, and fortunately it went in.”
Each team had 18 shots on goal after the first two periods, which were scoreless despite several excellent scoring chances.
The Golden Knights held the Stars without a shot on goal in the first 7 1/2 minutes but couldn’t solve Oettinger.
Keegan Kolesar hit the crossbar with a one-timer from the left circle and Mark Stone had two grade-A chances in front of the crease. The first was deflected over the net by the stick of Dallas defenseman Chris Tanev, and Oettinger stopped the second with a pad save.
“I thought we played a really good game. We had a lot of chances, we stuck with it, stuck to our game plan and fortunately we got one by him. He’s a great goalie over there and it’s not easy to score on him,” Hanifin said.
Meanwhile, Evgenii Dadonov had a breakaway try for the Stars, but his wrist shot went over the crossbar.
Dallas missed another chance to take the lead early in the second period. Tyler Seguin had a breakaway after stealing the puck from Zach Whitecloud, but Hill made a save on his wrist shot and also on an ensuing rebound.
“We had enough chances to stick a few in the net. You have to credit Hill for making some saves,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve got to finish our opportunities when you get them at this point in the series because they’re few and far between. We had some good looks tonight.”
The best chance for Vegas came near the end of the period on the power play when Jonathan Marchessault’s shot through traffic caromed off the far right post.
–Field Level Media
