Stars, Knights meet much earlier this time
DALLAS The Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights are meeting much earlier in the Stanley Cup playoffs this time.
Reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas opens defence of its title as a No. 8 seed in a first-round series that opens Monday night in Dallas, where the Knights last year wrapped up the Western Conference final with a Game 6 victory.
“Probably a better team than where they finished,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “It’s a great test for us. When you have a goal of going all the way, a lot of times you’ve got to get through the defending champs.”
Seguin is the only Stars player with a Cup title, but that was 13 years ago as a 19-year-old rookie with Boston. He made the Stanley Cup final with Dallas in 2020, after another Western Conference final against Vegas.
The Stars won 17 of their last 21 games to get the top seed in the West. They set a franchise record with a National Hockey Leaguehigh eight 20-goal scorers, and allstar goalie Jake Oettinger has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of his past 11 starts.
“We’ve played our best hockey here down the stretch,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.
Vegas won all three regular-season meetings, the last on Dec. 9. There was a shootout and overtime game before 12 different Knights had points in a 6-1 win in Dallas.
The Knights were 13-12-2 while finishing the regular season without captain Mark Stone (lacerated spleen), and were also at times without defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier.
All were back at practice before the first-round series.
“They’re a big part of our team,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’ve managed to persevere in terms of getting to our first goal, which was to make the playoffs.”
Vegas last year had home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, including the Stanley Cup final when beating Florida in five games. To get back, they will have to do it as a No. 8 seed, as the Panthers did last year.
“We understand, as soon as you get in, anything can happen,” said Jack Eichel, whose 68 points were second on the team to Jonathan Marchessault’s 69. “What you do here on out the next two months, that’s the most important thing.”
Stars captain Jamie Benn missed Games 4 and 5 of last year’s West final after being suspended for an ugly hit on Stone that led to a game misconduct less than two minutes into Game 3. The captains collided and, after Stone fell to the ice, Benn lunged forward with both hands on his stick and made contact near Stone’s neck.
“It’s a different year. I think that was addressed pretty quick in the regular season,” Dallas forward Joe Pavelski said, when asked about any carry-over effect into this series.
“It’s all about winning right now. And that’s kind of what we’re focused on.”