The Vegas Golden Knights will try to ride the momentum of snapping a season-long four-game losing streak into Friday’s game against the host Dallas Stars, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season.
The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights enter the contest clinging to a one-point edge over the Edmonton Oilers. They lost six of their seven previous games (1-5-1) before Thursday’s 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.
Mark Stone scored 19 seconds into the game and also had an assist versus the Blues, Tomas Hertl scored for the fourth straight game, and Victor Olofsson and Pavel Dorofeyev also tallied for Vegas, which jumped out to a 2-0 lead and led 3-1 going into the final period.
“We started on time tonight,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “There were a lot of positives.”
“Usually we bounce back very quickly (after a loss) and this has been our worst stretch of the season,” Olofsson said. “Still, there’s no stress. We know we’re a good team. You’re going to have some downs during the year, and we got back in the winning column tonight, and hopefully we can build on this one.”
It was the 30th win in 48 games for the Golden Knights, tied with the Oilers for the most in the Pacific Division.
“We just played as a team,” forward Ivan Barbashev said. “We said before the game it’s enough (losing), and we’ve got to be better as a team and that’s what we did starting with the first shift. A big goal, and just kept going and playing hard.”
Now Vegas will face a Stars team that eliminated them in seven games in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last spring. The Golden Knights ended the season for Dallas a year earlier with a six-game victory in the conference final en route to capturing their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
“Really good rival, really good team,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said of Vegas. “Not a lot of separation between the two teams over the last two years. They got us the first time around, we got them last year. It’s great hockey when we get together with them.”
“We know them real well,” added center Roope Hintz, who leads the Stars with 19 goals. “They don’t give much. It’s always a heavy, hard game so we’ve got to be prepared for that and be ready to play well.”
Dallas, which is 17-7-1 at home, comes in off a 2-1 loss to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Hintz, who missed two games with an upper-body injury, returned and logged 19:20 time on ice in the loss to the Hurricanes. He has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past seven games against the Golden Knights.
“It’s nice to be back,” Hintz said. “It’s not that great to watch the games. You want to be out there and playing with your team.”
This is the second of three regular-season meetings between the two teams. The Knights, behind 38 saves by Adin Hill, recorded a 3-2 win on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
–Field Level Media
