The Vegas Golden Knights will try to win back-to-back games for the first time in three weeks when they host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights come in off a 4-1 home victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday, just the team’s third win over its past 10 games. Vegas briefly fell out of first place in the Pacific Division for the first time in 2 1/2 months during a 2-6-1 slide but began Monday’s action with a one-point lead over the Edmonton Oilers thanks to Sunday’s win.
Vegas hasn’t won back-to-back games since it captured three in a row Jan. 2-7. The victory over the Panthers was just the team’s second over a seven-game stretch.
“It’s nice to get a big win here on home ice,” said goalie Adin Hill, who made 33 saves while snapping a personal three-game losing streak. “A lot of our losses, they’ve been one-goal games with a bounce here, a play there. It happens. We want to kind of put that behind us and just carry this momentum into Tuesday against Dallas.”
“Not our best stretch (recently) but it’s going to happen,” added center Nicolas Roy, who had three assists. “It’s a long season. … (Beating Florida) is a positive for sure.”
Forward Tanner Pearson, who scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the second period, said the team knows the importance of performing well in the final six games before a lengthy break for the 4 Nations Face-Off begins on Feb. 9.
“Everyone in the room knows what we need to do, and that every point is crucial this time of year, right?” Pearson said. “You have to focus on the next game, and the game after that, and the game after that, and keep on grinding until the break happens.”
Dallas, second in the Central Division, comes in with a two-game winning streak after sweeping a back-to-back that began Friday with a 4-3 home win over Vegas followed by a 2-0 victory at St. Louis.
Backup goalie Casey DeSmith made 33 saves for his second shutout of the season and Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and an assist in the win over the Blues. Dallas, which has won seven of its last nine road games, went 7-4-0 over a 19-day stretch that saw them play 11 times.
“It was a game where our hearts were in the right place,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Eleven games in 19 nights, a real emotional, hard-fought win (over Vegas). We were running on fumes. There wasn’t much in the tank. We did enough to win. Casey DeSmith came in and was our best player, which is what we needed. A big two points and found a way (to win).”
This will be the third and final meeting during the regular season between the two teams who have faced each other in competitive playoff series each of the last two seasons. Both of the first two games were decided by a goal, with the Golden Knights winning 3-2 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas and host Dallas taking the rematch 4-3 last Friday behind two goals by Jason Robertson.
“We know what to expect,” center Matt Duchene, who leads the Stars in scoring with 47 points, said of facing the Golden Knights. “It’s a playoff game every time we play them. It’s never easy when we play them.”
–Field Level Media
