Mark Stone was one of four Vegas players with a goal and an assist, and one of six to score, as the visiting Golden Knights won 6-1 on Saturday to sweep the three-game season series from the Dallas Stars.
Zach Whitecloud, Paul Cotter and Nicolas Roy also recorded one goal and one assist apiece, while Logan Thompson stopped 19 shots for the Golden Knights, who recorded their NHL-leading 41st point while improving to 4-0-3 in the past seven games. Chandler Stephenson and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas, which has totaled 25 goals in the past six contests.
Meanwhile, Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and Jake Oettinger managed 21 saves for Dallas, which fell for the third time in four games while playing without star Roope Hintz, who was a late scratch due to illness. It’s been a rough stretch for Oettinger, who has yielded 15 goals in losing three straight starts.
These teams combined for eight goals in the first two meetings of the season, which needed a shootout and overtime to go in Vegas’ favor. On Saturday, they recorded half that goal total in the first period.
The Golden Knights got the first two, opening the scoring just 2:24 in when Stephenson snapped a 20-game goal drought by backhanding home a rebound of Whitecloud’s shot. A little more than four minutes later, Whitecloud sent in a wrister from the low slot.
Dallas got a goal back when Dadonov put home the rebound of Jamie Benn’s shot, which went off Thompson’s glove with 9:53 remaining in the first. However, the Stars gave back that goal with 5:02 left in the opening frame after Stone’s shot was blocked by Dallas’ Thomas Harley. It came right back to the Golden Knights’ captain to bury for a 3-1 lead.
With 4:59 remaining in the second, and following an own-zone Stars turnover, Stone sent the puck over to Roy to beat Oettinger on the glove side.
Vegas added two more goals in the third. Just 2:11 into the period, Dorofeyev converted William Karlsson’s nifty no-look backhand pass from across the crease. Cotter pushed in his own backhand attempt with 10:45 to play.
–Field Level Media
