Stars set tone early in Game 1 win over Golden Knights

To paraphrase that old television game show, the real Dallas Stars stood up Sunday night.

“That’s Dallas Stars hockey,” coach Rick Bowness said after his team followed up on a wild and woolly seven-game shootout against the Colorado Avalanche with a more characteristic 1-0 victory over the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place inside the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble.

“For two periods, that was Dallas Stars hockey. We were skating, we were on top of them, creating a lot of offense from good defensive structure all over the ice. That second period was as good a period as we’ve played, and we came out of the gates strong again. But that’s how we play.”

The Stars, who were second behind the Boston Bruins in goals allowed during the regular season, scored on the first shot they attempted — John Klingberg’s wrist shot beat Marc-Andre Fleury on the stick side from between the faceoff circles after the Dallas defenseman jumped into an odd-man rush just 2:36 after the puck was dropped.

Faster, stronger, better

Dallas built momentum after the quick start, dominating the first two periods and making the Knights look much like the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks had looked against Vegas in the first two series.

The Stars outshot the Knights 22-12 in the first 40 minutes, forcing the heavily favored Knights to rely on a hot goaltender — much as the Blackhawks (Corey Crawford) and Canucks (Thatcher Demko) had in the first two series — to keep it close.

“I know we scored only one goal, but we had lots more opportunities tonight,” Bowness said. “Fleury was outstanding for them, as (Anton Khudobin) was for us.”

The Stars were faster, stronger and better for the first two periods, and it wasn’t close. They clogged neutral ice, negating the Knights’ speed and making it difficult for the Vegas playmakers to string together passes.

When the Knights made their push in the third period, Khudobin was up to the task in stopping 13 shots (25 overall) to post his first career shutout.

Emotion runs high

After the game, when asked why he was so well liked by his teammates, the 34-year-old veteran said it might be because he brings them water and oranges during practice.

“I just try to be helpful,” Khudobin said after the Stars reciprocated by forechecking and backchecking and clearing Golden Knights from in front of his crease. “It’s awesome. When guys battle in front of you, when they are blocking shots, when they have bruises when they are laying down, when they are forechecking and keep playing and playing and playing and never stop.”

Jamie Benn, who assisted on Dallas’ goal and made a couple of big hits to set the tone after the puck was dropped, said it was important for the Stars to come out with the same intensity they had shown in the Colorado series.

“We go through a hard-fought seven-game series, and it was pretty exciting, pretty emotional,” said the forward, who has 14 points in 17 playoff games. “Obviously, we were happy with the result. We knew the start of the game was going to be important.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.