SUMMARY: Golden Knights 2 – Stars 2 (2nd period)
The Golden Knights returned to Las Vegas with a golden opportunity to take a serious shot at their first-round series against the Dallas Stars, but losses in Games 3 and 4 completely changed the face of the matchup. .
The series now returns to Dallas with a 2-2 tie heading into Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Mark Stone opened the scoring after 4 minutes of play during a power play in favor of the Golden Knights. Stone, playing his 100th career playoff game, redirected a shot from the blue line by Noah Hanifin.
Only a minute later, Evgenii Dadonov equalized with a goal in a second game in a row. He got into a two-on-one with Logan Stankoven, who gave him the puck, skillfully bypassing defenseman Brayden McNabb who had dove to block the shot lane.
Still in the first period, Matt Duchene also made the Stars’ numerical advantage work to give his team the lead, before seeing his goalkeeper Jake Oettinger concede a weak goal to William Carrier to bring the tie back. Oettinger lost his eye on the puck behind his net and his left pad was poorly positioned, allowing Carrier to come forward to take advantage of this gap.
Pre-match notes
On each occasion, it was the visiting team that got their hands on victory, but home ice advantage could now work in the Stars’ favor.
For the occasion, goaltender Adin Hill should get the start in net for the Golden Knights. Logan Thompson started the first four games of the series against the Stars.
Hill hasn’t played since April 18. This season, he was 19-12-2, with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in the regular season.
Last year, Hill was brilliant in the playoffs to lead his team to the Stanley Cup.
At 20 years old, Wyatt Johnston continues to establish himself as a real offensive force for the Stars. Author of three goals and an assist since the start of the series against Vegas, Johnston became the first player in Stars history to collect 10 points in the playoffs before turning 21.
Johnston scored the game-winning goal in overtime in Game 3, before scoring the tying goal in the next game.
Golden Knights roster
Hertl – Eichel – Marchessault
Dorofeyev – Stephenson – Stone
Howden – Karlsson – Amadio
Carrier – Roy – Barbashev
Martinez – Pietrangelo
McNabb-Theodore
Hanifin – Hutton
Hill
Training of the Stars
Robertson – Hintz – Pavelski
Dadonov – Duchene – Seguin
Benn – Johnston – Stankoven
Dellandrea – Steel – Smith
Harley – Heiskanen
Lindell – Tanev
Suter – Lundkvist
Oettinger
