Jack Eichel and defending Stanley Cup champions the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday beat the Dallas Stars to take a 2-0 lead in their NHL first-round playoff series.
The Golden Knights got exactly what they anticipated and withstood that early hard push in Game 2 by the desperate Stars.
The Golden Knights did not settle for a split while starting the series on the road.
Photo: AFP
“We expected them to come out and push hard that first 5, 10 minutes and they did,” Eichel said. “We responded. We were able to come in here after the first period and it’s all tied... They gave us all we could handle.”
Eichel assisted on the tying goal by Jonathan Marchessault late in the first period before adding an empty-netter late. Noah Hanifin scored the tiebreaker with unassisted goal late in the second period.
Game 3 is to be played tomorrow in Las Vegas.
Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA Today
“We’re in a good spot, but there’s still a lot of hockey left to be played,” Hanifin said. “We’re happy to get back into our building and have that momentum on our side... Just got to keep doing what we’re doing, chipping away at it and play our game.”
Logan Thompson had 20 saves in his second career playoff start, although Dallas did not get a shot to him in the final 5 minutes, 37 seconds of the game.
In the Western Conference Final in May last year, the Knights were the top seed when winning the first three games against Dallas and taking the series in six games.
After falling 4-3 in the opener of this first-round series, the Stars came out intent on setting a hard-hitting tone before the series shifted west.
Mason Marchment took defenseman Zach Whitecloud off his skates with a jarring hit behind the Vegas net about 2 minutes into the game.
Knights captain Mark Stone ended up on the ice midway through the first period when it appeared that he was going to take a shot at Jason Robertson, who instead bowed up and delivered a body blow.
In the end, Dallas still could not take down the Knights.
“Loved our first period. We make one mistake at the end of the first, probably deserved to be up,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “That was probably a critical point in the game. Eichel, the wrong guy gets behind us at the wrong time, and that’s what they do, they make you pay. So you come out of the first after playing a great period and you have nothing to show for it.”
In Edmonton, Alberta, Anze Kopitar fired a wrist shot past Stuart Skinner’s glove and into the top corner on a breakaway to give the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 victory over the Oilers in Game 2 of their first-round series, which is tied 1-1.
In Toronto, Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win over the Maple Leafs to take a 2-1 series lead.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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