Dallas Stars eliminate Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7

DALLAS — Radek Faksa made a promise to his 2½-year-old son once they have been taking part in collectively earlier than the Dallas Stars took the ice for Recreation 7.

Faksa did certainly rating in his return to the lineup after lacking 4 video games due to an undisclosed harm. His go-ahead aim got here on a backhander 44 seconds into the third interval, after his son had been taken residence, and Dallas beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 on Sunday evening to wrap up the first-round collection.

“I am completely happy I did,” Faksa mentioned. “And so I can present him the video within the morning, and we are able to watch it collectively.”

Solely captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have performed longer for the Stars than Faksa, a fourth-liner in his ninth season who acquired his aim from the circle to the left of goalie Adin Hill. Dallas additionally acquired one other Recreation 7 aim from 20-year-old Wyatt Johnston.

Jake Oettinger had 21 saves in his second Recreation 7 victory. He additionally had the Stars’ solely penalty, although they killed that off after he was known as for tripping Ivan Barbashev in entrance of the web halfway by way of the third.

“The final interval was a clinic. Simply so happy with the fellows of how we responded,” Oettinger mentioned. “It is a lengthy playoffs, and you are going to want completely different guys to step up at completely different instances. A whole lot of hockey left, so hopefully much more heroes. It’ll be a enjoyable experience.”

The Stars, the No. 1 seed within the West, transfer on to play well-rested Colorado within the second spherical. Recreation 1 is in Dallas on Tuesday evening, every week after the Avalanche wrapped up their collection towards Winnipeg with a Recreation 5 victory.

Brett Howden scored for Vegas, which could not pull off one other collection winner in Dallas, the place final 12 months the Knights wrapped up the Western Convention finals with a win in Recreation 6. Hill had 22 saves in his third recreation of this collection after Logan Thompson began the primary 4.

The visiting crew received the primary 4 video games on this collection till the house groups held serve the final three.

“There’s in all probability lots of doubters on the market. After Recreation 2, they in all probability thought we could not come again,” Benn mentioned. “A whole lot of believers on this room, on this group. And we confirmed them.”

Dallas has received Recreation 7s in every of its first two postseasons for coach Pete DeBoer, who’s now 8-0 in his profession in such video games with 4 completely different groups. That features the Knights’ solely Recreation 7 wins in 2020 and 2021 when he was their coach.

Johnston scored his series-high fourth aim on a wrister from the highest of the slot with 5:26 left within the first interval after selecting off a clearing cross by Shea Theodore that his teammate, Tomas Hertl, missed when taking a twisting swipe at it.

A day after his twentieth birthday final Could, Johnston turned the youngest participant in NHL historical past with a game-clinching aim in a Recreation 7. He gathered a puck that ricocheted off the again boards within the third interval of the Stars’ 2-1 win over Seattle in that second-round collection.

The aim Sunday towards got here in fast succession after Vegas had two scoring probabilities. Oettinger made a tricky save to disclaim Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault then shot the rebound off the left put up, and acquired a success on Johnston earlier than the Dallas teen skated to the opposite finish and scored about 10 seconds later.

“I believe a few our gamers will in all probability stay awake tonight, as a result of if you happen to have a look at what transpired within the recreation,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned. “We hit a put up, take them down, they rating 10 seconds later. We miss an open internet on the finish of the second, they usually rating on the primary shift of the third. … It is a bit of little bit of hockey typically when two shut groups play.”

The collection ended with each groups scoring 16 targets.

Vegas, which returned 22 of its 27 gamers from the Stanley Cup-winning roster, tied it within the second interval when Michael Amadio made a crossing cross to Howden, who poked the puck into the open left facet of the web behind Oettinger.

The one coach aside from DeBoer to win eight Recreation 7s is Darryl Sutter, who was 8-3 in such video games over 182 playoff video games in 15 postseasons with 4 groups.

The Knights are 2-2 in Recreation 7s. DeBoer was additionally the opposing coach of their different loss, to San Jose in 2019.

It was solely the second time of 16 that the Stars received a best-of-seven collection after dropping the primary two video games. The opposite was the very first playoff collection in franchise historical past, when the Minnesota North Stars have been down 0-2 earlier than beating the Los Angeles Kings in seven video games to open the 1968 playoffs.