The Dallas Stars made it a little interesting with a goal at the midpoint of the third period that bewildered Logan Thompson, but the Vegas Golden Knights held on to secure a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Mark Stone made his long awaited return to the lineup, and he made an impact 83 seconds into the game after tipping a shot past Jake Oettinger on the power play.
The Golden Knights kept pushing the play, and Jonathan Marchessault made it 2-0 with a goal of his own 7:04 later which quieted down the Dallas crowd.
The Stars would respond toward the end of the period with a goal from Jamie Benn to make it 2-1, but the Golden Knights would respond after going back on the power play.
Tomas Hertl, playing in his first playoff game with the Golden Knights, put home a backhander to make it 3-1 and it looked like Vegas would ride that high into intermission.
Unfortunately Jason Robertson scored 38 seconds later to make it 3-2, and that score would hold the remainder of the period. All in all, it was great to see Vegas come out with a ton of energy, and encouraging to see them be efficient with 3 goals on just 8 shots.
That efficiency carried into the second period, a period in which the team took just 3 shots on goal, and it featured a goal by Brayden McNabb just 1:06 into the period.
Jack Eichel deserves a lot of credit for keeping the puck in the zone after Vegas lost the faceoff, and Ivan Barbashev deserves some kudos as well for screening Oettinger. McNabb’s goal was the only one of the period, and it was a relatively low event period which is exactly how Vegas wanted things to go.
As mentioned in the introduction, Dallas scored in the third period, and it was an very innocent looking shot fired on net by Mason Marchment that just handcuffed Thompson and gave the Stars some life. Vegas weathered that storm during the final minutes of the period, and they held tough late while the Stars had a 6 on 5 advantage with the goaltender pulled.
Thompson ended the game with 27 saves on 30 shots, and he made some big saves in the third after surrendering a goal he’d love to have back. Eichel led the team with a pair of points, and the Golden Knights will look to keep this momentum going when the puck drops for Game 2 on Wednesday.