Global Courant 2023-05-30 07:38:53
William Karlsson scored two goals and had an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights advanced to their second Stanley Cup Final Monday night with a 6-0 loss to the Dallas Stars, who had extended the Western Conference Finals to six games after winning the first three had lost.
William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar and Michael Amadio each had a goal and an assist for the Knights, and Jonathan Marchessault had a goal. Carrier, Marshessault and Karlsson were all part of the 2017–18 inaugural Knights season which ended in their cup final.
Adin Hill stopped 23 shots for his second career playoff shutout – both against the Stars. The other was 4-0 in Game 3 last Tuesday, when the Knights were already one win from clinching the series before Dallas overcame deficits 1-0 and 2-1 in both Games 4 and 5.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against Florida is Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Vegas led the Western Conference in the regular season with 51 wins and 111 points. The Panthers completed a four-game sweep of Carolina in the East Final last Wednesday, but their regular-season 40 wins and 92 points were the fewest of 16 teams to enter these NHL playoffs.
Instead of having to play a do-or-die Game 7 at home against the Stars, coach Bruce Cassidy and the Knights got off to another fast start and never left any doubts about the outcome of this three-overtime series.
a postman backhand beauty pic.twitter.com/W38xjQt8pb
The Stars regained captain Jamie Benn following his two-game suspension for a cross-check to the neck of Vegas captain Mark Stone early in Game 3. But Benn was already rated minus-2 without a shot after playing just 3:46 in the first period.
Vegas led for good as Carrier scored 3:41 into the game after a puck was pinned from behind the net near three Dallas players. Carrier skated across the front of the crease and put a backhander into the net, the Knights’ ninth goal this postseason in the first five minutes of a game.
Karlsson’s power play goal came midway through the first period to make it 2-0, and after a penalty that probably prevented him from scoring.
Nicolas Roy took a shot that ricocheted off Jake Oettinger’s glove and popped up in the air behind the keeper. Karlsson charged into the crease as Stars defenseman Esa Lindell raised his stick and knocked the puck out of play, earning a penalty for delay of play.
Keegan Kolesar completed the scoring for the
Vegas leads this postseason 5-0 after the first period. pic.twitter.com/U5XjwvJnbr
With the man advantage, Reilly Smith took a shot from the circle to the left, which was deflected forward by Roy and then off Oettinger’s extended skate before Karlsson knocked on the rebound.
After Kolesar made it 3-0 in the first and Marchessault scored his ninth goal in the second, Karlsson’s franchise-record 10th goal of this playoff extended the lead to 5-0 just two minutes into the third period.
Oettinger had been 3-0 as the Stars faced elimination this postseason, including Game 7 in the second round against Seattle before stopping 64 of 68 shots in the past two games against the Knights.
That was after Vegas scored three goals on five shots in the opening 7:10 to propel him out of Game 3, the only lopsided game in the series through to the Finals. Two of their three regular season games went to shootouts.
Dallas was only the fifth team to force a Game 6 in a conference final or NHL semifinal after trailing 0-3, and the first since the Stars lost to Detroit in a sixth game in 2008. Only two teams reached a Game 7, both of whom lost – the New York Islanders to Philadelphia in 1975; and the New York Rangers to Boston in 1939.
Vegas avoided a Game 7 at home against the Stars and coach Peter DeBoer, who is 7-0 in such do-or-die games, including the Seattle series finale two weeks ago. DeBoer was the Vegas coach for his only Game 7 wins – in the second round in 2020 against Vancouver and in the 2021 first round against Minnesota. But he was fired by the Golden Knights after they missed the playoffs for the only time in their short existence last season.
