The Dallas Stars have eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions, hanging on to win an absolute nail-biter at home in Game 7 with a gutsy 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
The Stars will play the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2
After losing the opening two games of this series at home, Dallas completed the series comeback Sunday night in front of a raucous home crowd, where green and white celebratory confetti rained down just after the final buzzer.
Empty-netters aside, every game between these teams came down to a single goal. You knew No. 7 was going to be a doozy, and it delivered, tied at 1-1 heading into the third period.
Here are our takeaways from the last game of the NHL’s opening round:
Wyatt Stars
Wyatt Johnston, the Stars’ leading playoff scorer, got his team on the board, and the goal came on a turnover shortly after Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault hit the post on a partially open net.
Not long after, the turnover deep in Vegas’ zone popped out to Johnston in front and he made no mistake, picking a spot between the left pad and glove of Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill, who had served up a shutout in Game 6. When that puck went in, Johnston pumped both fists, took out his mouth guard and looked at his teammates and yelled: “Let’s go!” while American Airlines Center went bananas.
That gave Johnston a team-high seven points in this series. The Toronto-born right-winger scored the OT winner in Game 3. He’ll be eligible to drink a beer legally in the U.S. in nine days, when he turns 21.
Johnston’s seventh point matched Golden Knights star Jack Eichel with the most in this series.
Mark Stone booed again
The Golden Knights captain was booed every time he touched the puck on Sunday, no different than any other appearance he’s made in this building this post-season.
Some hockey fans have been vocal in their belief that Stone fakes injuries, or times them conveniently, to help Vegas circumvent the salary cap.
He returned from a lacerated spleen just in time for this series. In the second, Stone took a cross-check and looked to be in absolute agony, but he was back on the ice not long after.
Amadio with the beauty pass
Michael Amadio made no mistake on the play that tied it up for Vegas with 4:35 to go in the second. The forward threaded a perfect pass to Brett Howden, who was right there on the back door to deflect the puck into the wide open net.
And just like that, this baby was all tied up heading into the third period, just like you figured it would be.
It was Howden’s first of the series.
Two what-ifs for Vegas
The Golden Knights were oh-so-close to scoring twice in this game.
The first near-miss was Marchessault’s post, just before the Stars made it 1-0. And then, after Vegas had tied it, late in the second, Eichel made a nice move to pull around a defender and had an opening on his backhand, but fired it just wide.
Eichel hung his head after that play. Sunday was his first career NHL Game 7, and at the end of it he was on one knee on the ice with his head down.
Fourth line magic, and then Dallas hung on for dear life
The game-winning goal for Dallas was not from your usual suspects, and what an effort it was from the team’s fourth line.
It came just 44 seconds into the third period. Dallas was cycling deep in the Vegas zone, and Craig Smith sent a pass over to Radek Faska, who was just below the left faceoff dot. Faska used his skate to redirect the puck to his stick, then fired a backhand that deflected off a Vegas shin pad and rang off the post and in.
Faska’s mouth was open and he was yelling for a good long time, right along with the crowd, after that one.
Dallas had regained the lead with little more than 19 minutes to go. And the Stars held on.
Dallas later killed a Golden Knights power play. The Stars nearly scored with about two minutes remaining, but Hill made a poke check on the play and then scrambled to recover and make another save.
Hill was pulled with 1:50 remaining and the building hit a boil. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger made a glove save through traffic with 29 seconds to go, and another two saves in the dying seconds. When it was over, he did a double fist-pump. Oettinger was stellar, making 21 saves for the win.
Solid in seven
Stars coaches had a group hug on the bench when this one was over. Head coach Peter DeBoer is now 8-0 in Game 7s.
