Vegas captain Mark Stone scored quickly after missing two months and his first-time linemate Tomas Hertl had a nifty goal in his playoff debut for the Golden Knights.
Stone and Hertl scored on the only power plays for the reigning Stanley Cup champion as Vegas opened defense of its title with a 4-3 win over the top-seeded Dallas Stars on Monday night.
“Off to a good start on the road,” Stone said. “That’s key, and the power play was clutch for us.”
Jonathan Marchessault got his franchise-record 36th postseason goal for Vegas, while Brayden McNabb scored on a 50-foot sniper shot from against the boards in the second period. Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin both had two assists.
Hertl and Hanifin were two of three trade acquisitions for Vegas while Stone was on the long-term injured list after he lacerated his spleen Feb. 20. With Stone’s salary not counting toward the NHL’s cap during that time, the Knights were able to be aggressive at the deadline in March.
“Awesome … a lot of fun,” Hertl said of playing with Stone. “Hopefully we can just keep building every game and getting better and better for our team. i think we will get better and we will score a lot of goals for our team.”
The Knights entered this postseason as the No. 8 seed and a first-round opener in Dallas, where last year they wrapped up the West final with a Game 6 victory after having won the first three games. Game 2 of this series is Wednesday night.
“If you’re going to knock off the Stanley Cup champions, you’re going to have to bring your A-game every night,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We did some decent things, we did some things well, but we’re chasing the game the whole night from the first shot of the game on. Tough to play from behind against that team.”
RECAP: https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/nhl/stars/vegas-captain-stone-scores-quick-return-defending-cup-champions-open-with-win-dallas/287-d317a962-1104-41ed-8e61-921930e0767c
00:00 Pete DeBoer
02:13 Jamie Benn
04:54 Jake Oettinger
08:10 Mason Marchment
3 Comments
Otter "we've showed that we can play with these guys" You sure about that?
yeah they are abusing the cap
You ain’t built for the playoffs Jake you fold in the big moments