Radek Faksa scores in return, Stars oust defending Stanley Cup champ Golden Knights 2-1 in Game 7

DALLAS (AP) — Radek Faksa made a promise to his 2 1/2-year-old son after they had been enjoying 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 damage. His go-ahead objective 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 night time to wrap up the first-round collection.

“I’m blissful I did,” Faksa stated. “And so I can present him the video within the morning, and we will 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 bought his objective from the circle to the left of goalie Adin Hill. Dallas additionally bought one other Recreation 7 objective 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 referred to as for tripping Ivan Barbashev in entrance of the online halfway by the third.

“The final interval was a clinic. Simply so happy with the fellows of how we responded,” Oettinger stated. “It’s an extended playoffs and also you’re going to wish completely different guys to step up at completely different occasions. Loads of hockey left so hopefully much more heroes. It’s going to be a run journey.”

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 night time, per week after the Avalanche wrapped up their collection towards Winnipeg with a Recreation 5 victory.

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

The customer gained the primary 4 video games on this collection till the house groups held serve the final three video games.

“There’s most likely a variety of doubters on the market. After Recreation 2, they most likely thought we couldn’t come again,” Benn stated. “Loads of believers on this room, on this group. And we confirmed ’em.”

Dallas has gained 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 objective on a wrister from the highest of the slot with 5:26 left within the first interval after choosing 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 objective 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 objective Sunday towards got here in fast succession after Vegas had two scoring possibilities. Oettinger made a troublesome save to disclaim Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault then shot the rebound off the left submit, and bought a success on Johnston earlier than the Dallas teenager skated to the opposite finish and scored about 10 seconds later.

“I believe a few our gamers will most likely stay awake tonight, as a result of for those who have a look at what transpired within the sport,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy stated. “We hit a submit, take them down, they rating 10 seconds later. We miss an open internet on the finish of the second, and so they rating on the primary shift of the third. … It’s somewhat little bit of hockey generally 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 online 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 over 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 gained a best-of-seven collection after dropping the primary two video games. The one different was the very first playoff collection in franchise historical past, when the Minnesota North Stars had been down 0-2 earlier than beating the Los Angeles Kings in seven video games to open the 1968 playoffs.

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