Goaltender Duel In Vegas Ends With Dallas’ 3-2 Shootout Win Over Knights Before 17,906 Saturday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The last time Dallas and its coach, former VGK bench head Pete DeBoer, came to Las Vegas, the Stars skated easily away with a win. The Knights seemed like they were in a trance and were called out by their coach, Bruce Cassidy, for not being emotionally engaged.
Well, things changed Saturday night at the Big Ice House by the Strip.
In a highly entertaining and intense game dominated by the goalies, the Dallas Stars defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, in a shootout after Dallas tied the game with only 38 seconds left in the final period.
Both goalies, Jake Oettinger of Dallas and Laurent Brossoit of Vegas, were on top of their games in period one.
Midway through period two, VGK right-winger Michael Amadio re-directed the puck off a shot that seemed like a pass from defenseman Brayden McNabb past the cat-quick Oettinger and the Knights grabbed a 1-0 lead with eight minutes left in the middle stanza.
But the advantage evaporated only two minutes and a second later when Dallas third line center Wyatt Johnston, only 19 years old from Toronto, slammed the puck into the goal from the left doorstep.
The game with postseason intensity was tied at one apiece after two periods.
Ryan was chatting with me on press row and he mentioned it’s been a while since Jack Eichel scored a big goal.
“How about right now,?” I asked as Eichel cruised down the left wide with the puck, cut left to right in front of the crease and slid the puck around Oettinger’s left skate blade.
With 4:37 left in period three, Eichel’s 20th of the season gave the VGK a 2-1 lead.
But VGK couldn’t polish off the win.
Dallas’ Roope Hintz tied the game with 38 seconds left and the goalie pulled off the ice when his shot found its way around traffic in front of Brossoit. Right before Hintz tied the game, Eichel and Chandler Stephenson had a two-on-one break with an open goal in front of them, but neither one could register an empty net goal to seal the VGK win.
Instead, it was 2-2 after 60 minutes.
And it was 2-2 after overtime with both teams registering 43 shots on goal apiece, including a spectacular save my the nimble Brossoit.
Dallas won in the shootout after only two rounds. Dallas linemates Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz scored on Brossoit, while Paul “Welcome Back” Cotter and Eichel were stymied by Oettinger.
VGK picked up a point for 76 points, while Dallas snagged two points in Vegas and upped its total to 74.
