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The Vegas Golden Knights begin their defense of their Stanley Cup title on Monday night when they face the host Dallas Stars in Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Vegas and Dallas met in the Western Conference finals last season, with the Golden Knights taking the series in six games. They then went on to defeat the Florida Panthers in five games to win their first Stanley Cup.

Vegas enters the postseason as the second wild card in the West after an injury-plagued regular season. The good news for Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy is that two key players who were sidelined down the stretch, captain Mark Stone and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, have returned to practice.

Stone has been sidelined since Feb. 20 due to a lacerated spleen. He had 16 goals and 37 assists in 56 games before going on long-term injured reserve, a move that freed enough salary-cap space for the Golden Knights to add defenseman Noah Hanifin and forwards Tomas Hertl and Anthony Mantha at the trade deadline.

Pietrangelo, meanwhile, has been out since April 2 after undergoing an appendectomy.

“It took a while,” Pietrangelo said. “I wasn’t too sure what the problem was. I’m glad to get that behind me just to recover. We took our time doing it the right way to make sure there was nothing to worry about. The last thing you want to do is go into a playoff game with that in the back of your mind.”

Cassidy is looking forward to having reinforcements for the series with the Stars.

“The games get tougher now,” Cassidy said. “The more manpower at your disposal, the better.”

Vegas went 3-0 against Dallas during the regular season, but it won one of the games in a shootout and another in overtime. The Golden Knights cruised to a 6-1 victory in the most recent meeting on Dec. 9, with Stone finishing with a goal and an assist.

Though Vegas pulled off that 6-1 win in Dallas, it struggled on the road this season, going 18-17-6.

“You’ve just got to find a way to get in,” Pietrangelo said. “It doesn’t really matter how (you get in). We’re in the playoffs.”

Dallas finished second in the NHL with 113 points, just one behind the New York Rangers in the battle for the Presidents’ Trophy. The Stars, who finished with a 26-11-4 home record, went 17-4-0 over their last 21 games.

“We’ve had our group together. They’ve been on the ice together. They’ve played together down the stretch,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’ve been playing some great hockey. I’m excited about how we translate that to the playoffs.”

Though the Stars are out for revenge against Vegas, they also don’t want to let their emotions get the best of them as they try to advance to the second round for the fourth time in six years.

“I don’t think you make a big deal about it, but you also don’t dismiss it,” DeBoer said of facing the Golden Knights again. “They’re the team that ended your season, that went on to win the Stanley Cup, which was our goal last year. I think it’s not all-encompassing for us, but it’s definitely there, and you don’t ignore that.

“That’s part of our history and our journey as a group. Having said that, we’re both different teams this year.”

–Field Level Media