Global Courant 2023-05-30 09:29:54
DALLAS –
William Karlsson, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault finally get another chance in the Stanley Cup Final after the first came so quickly for the Vegas Golden Knights.
They go back after making sure they didn’t need another game against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals.
Karlsson scored two goals and had an assist, while Carrier and Marchessault also scored for the Knights in a 6-0 loss Monday night over the Stars, who had extended the West final to six games after losing the first three.
“We’ve worked hard as a group. That’s been the goal since year one, to come back here,” Marchessault said. “Our best game is yet to come. That’s the mentality we need to have.”
Reilly Smith, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore were also part of that inaugural 2017-18 Knights season that ended in a Cup Final, as they won Game 1 against the Washington Capitals before losing four in a row.
“That first year was a whirlwind and we might have taken it for granted,” said Karlsson, who, like Marchessault and Smith, has played in all 83 playoff games for the franchise.
Keegan Kolesar and Michael Amadio each had a goal and an assist for Vegas, which hosts Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against Florida on Saturday night.
The Knights 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.
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.
“We kept them out almost all night,” Hill said. “It was probably my easiest game of the playoffs so far tonight.”
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. They already had 16 of their 29 shots and a 3-0 lead after the first period.
“It was definitely our best game of the playoffs and it came at the right time,” said Cassidy. “You don’t want to let a team get off the mat. After a 3-0 lead, there was some talk about that.”
It was the Stars’ most lopsided playoff loss since the franchise moved south from Minnesota for the 1993–94 season.
“You just expect more of yourself in a game like this,” said Stars forward Joe Pavelski, the 38-year veteran who still lacks a Stanley Cup after 17 seasons.
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 only got one shot at the net in his 12 1/2 minutes and was on the ice for two of Vegas’ first three goals.
The Knights led for good as Carrier scored 3:41 into the game after a puck poked 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.
With the man advantage, 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. Karlsson’s franchise-record 10th goal for a playoff series extended the lead to 5–0 just two minutes into the third period.
“Really disappointed for our group with the way our season ended,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “It was a case of Vegas going to another level.”
Notes: 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 first 7:10 to knock him out of Game 3. …Dallas was only the fifth team to force a Game 6 in a conference final or NHL semifinal after a 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 which lost: the New York Islanders to Philadelphia in 1975; and the New York Rangers to Boston in 1939.
