Top-seeded Stars oust defending champs in West

Radek Faksa broke a tie in his return to the Dallas lineup, 20-year-old Wyatt Johnston scored in another Game 7 and the Stars beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 on Sunday night to wrap up their first-round series.

After being out with an undisclosed injury since leaving the bench late in Game 2, Faksa scored 44 seconds into the third period with a backhander from the circle to the left of goalie Adin Hill.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger had 21 saves in his second Game 7 victory.

He also had the Stars' only penalty, though they killed that off after he was called for tripping Ivan Barbashev in front of the net midway through the third.

“The last period was a clinic. Just so proud of the guys of how we responded,” Oettinger said. "It’s a long playoffs and you’re going to need different guys to step up at different times. A lot of hockey left so hopefully a lot more heroes. It’s going to be a fun ride.”

The Stars, the No. 1 seed in the West, move on to play well-rested Colorado in the second round. Game 1 is in Dallas on Tuesday night, a week after the Avalanche wrapped up their series against Winnipeg with a Game 5 victory.

Dallas has won Game 7s in each of its first two post-seasons for coach Pete DeBoer, who is now 8-0 in his career in such games with four different teams.

Rangers 4, Hurricanes 3

Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored and the New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Game 1 of their second-round series.

Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider had two assists as the Rangers, playing for the first time since completing their first-round sweep of Washington one week earlier, won their seventh straight game, including the regular season.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots to become the third goalie in franchise history to open a post-season with five straight wins, joining Dave Kerr (1937) and Mike Richter (1994).

Jaccob Slavin, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis scored for Carolina, which last played Tuesday night when it finished its first-round win against the New York Islanders.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night.