Golden Knights went 2-1 against Dallas Stars this season
The Golden Knights and Dallas Stars will meet for the first time in a playoff series Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, but the teams have plenty of history.
The Knights played the Stars in their first game as a franchise Oct. 6, 2017. They won 2-1 on two third-period goals from James Neal, the second with 2:44 left.
The teams have played six times in the regular season since then, and the Knights are 6-2. They also beat the Stars in their first playoff meeting Aug. 2 in the Western Conference’s round robin.
Dallas had a 3-1 lead after two periods after goals from Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry. But the Knights rallied in the third, scoring four goals to escape with a 5-3 win.
“I mean, we were flat,” right wing Mark Stone said after the game. “For 40 minutes we didn’t have our stuff, we didn’t have our game, we didn’t have our system in place. … We found our game in the third. That was almost picture-perfect for us.”
The game was also notable because Knights right wing Ryan Reaves and goaltender Robin Lehner, along with Stars players Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson, kneeled during the American and Canadian anthems as a sign of protest against racial injustice. They were the first players to kneel in uniform before an NHL game.
The Knights ended up winning the round robin, while the Stars finished third after defeating the St. Louis Blues in a shootout in their final game.
Here’s a recap of the two teams’ regular-season meetings:
Nov. 25
The Stars won the first of two meetings, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, after a fast start and timely goals.
Dallas grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period and responded each time the Knights scored. Center Paul Stastny made the score 3-2 1:23 into the third period, but the Stars shut the door with a power-play goal from right wing Alexander Radulov.
Dec. 13
The Knights won the second matchup at T-Mobile Arena.
Left wing Max Pacioretty, the team’s leading scorer, got his 12th career overtime goal after Stars captain Jamie Benn tied the game with 5:11 left in regulation. The game was one of Malcolm Subban’s nine wins with the Knights this season.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
