Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights produced a second consecutive road victory over the Dallas Stars, prevailing 3-1 on Wednesday.
Vegas holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series while heading home for Game 3 on Saturday.
Noah Hanifin also scored and Logan Thompson made 20 saves for Vegas, which extended its winning streak against the Stars to six games dating back to Game 6 of the 2023 Western Conference finals. It was also the Golden Knights’ fifth straight road victory over the Stars.
Vegas held Dallas to just 21 shots on goal, including five each in the second and third periods in a physical, tight-checking game that featured combined 108 hits.
Eichel said, “We did enough to win, so that’s all that matters this time of year. (Thompson) played great. I think our game is just going to continue to get better. By no means is that our best, but we’re doing enough to win right now. That’s all that matters this time of year. Obviously we played great defensively. We shut it down in the third.
“We know there’s some things we want to clean up moving forward, but you’ve got to like going home up 2-0.”
Jason Robertson scored for Dallas, the top seed in the West after finishing with 113 points in the regular season. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger finished with 23 saves.
“We’ve got to find a way to score five-on-five,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We generated some chances. You’re not going to get a ton against them, just like we’re not going to give up a bunch, and we’ve got to finish them. I thought their goalie made a few saves. I thought we had some looks that we’ve just got to stick in the net.
“We’ve been the best road team in league. We’ve got to go (to Las Vegas) and win, but they’re a very good hockey club for a reason. I think they have a deeper roster than they had last year (when the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup).”
Dallas took a 1-0 lead on a power play at the 16:47 mark of the first period. Robertson fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past a Jamie Benn screen and through Thompson’s pads for his second goal of the playoffs and the seventh in eight career playoff games against the Golden Knights.
Vegas tied it just 1:22 later. Marchessault finished an odd-man rush with Eichel by scoring his second goal of the playoffs, tapping Eichel’s crossing pass into a wide-open right side of the net. It was Marchessault’s 36th career playoff goal and extended his playoff point streak to 12 games.
The Golden Knights took a 2-1 lead at 18:53 of the second period. Hanifin, who had two assists in the opener, crept in from the left point, picked up a loose puck and fired a wrist shot past Oettinger’s glove side and inside the far post for his first career playoff goal.
The Stars pulled Oettinger for an extra attacker with 1:50 remaining but didn’t manage a shot on goal before Eichel sealed it with an empty-netter off a Marchessault pass with 33.8 seconds to go.
–Field Level Media
