The Vegas Golden Knights (29-22-14) suffered their sixth loss in the last seven games when they fell 2-1 to the Dallas Stars (40-14-10) Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
The Golden Knights scored the first goal of the game midway through the second period, but the Stars answered with two goals in under four minutes, including the game-winner at 14:16.
Adin Hill had another solid night, yielding two goals on 16 shots for an .875 save percentage. But once again, Hill gave his teammates a chance to win, and the Golden Knights never trailed by more than one goal. But it wasn’t enough to help Vegas come away with any points.
The penalty kill had another really strong performance, going 4-for-5 on the night.
After a scoreless opening frame saw both teams record seven combined shots on goal, all of the action came in a three-goal second period.
Jack Eichel opened the scoring just 91 seconds into the middle frame, beating Jake Oettinger on a laser from the circle after a great keep by Ivan Barbashev.
But the Stars responded midway through the period, taking advantage of a Vegas turnover to net the equalizer. The goal came off the stick of Oskar Back, who tipped Colin Blackwell’s rebound shot near the paint.
Miro Heiskanen then had a series of keeps on Dallas’ man-advantage, and Jamie Benn made a spectacular play to bat Wyatt Johnston’s shot out of the air and into the net. This gave the Stars their first lead of the night and proved to be the game-winner.
The Golden Knights had a strong push at 6-on-5 late in the third period, but the Stars survived to pull out the narrow win.
The Golden Knights have now lost six of their last seven games and are 2-6-0 since returning from the Olympic break. They continue to struggle against playoff teams, and their offense has dried up.
Much of that is due to being without Mark Stone’s leadership, presence and talent. Stone has been out of the lineup since March 1, and his absence has highlighted Vegas’ offensive deficiencies.
In fact, the Golden Knights have scored just 13 total goals in their last seven games.
That is not going to cut it, particularly when the goaltending has been so inconsistent. But tonight was another example of a better performance by Hill, who just didn’t have much goal support. Even so, he wasn’t as good as Oettinger, who finished the game with 26 saves on 27 shots for a .963 save percentage.
The Golden Knights (72 points) have lost three games in a row and have dropped to third place in the Pacific Division after both Anaeim (75) and Edmonton (72) secured wins on Tuesday. The Golden Knights and Oilers are tied with 65 games played, while the Ducks have a game in hand.
The Golden Knights will look to right the ship when they take on the Penguins on Thursday to kick off a four-game homestand.
Photo courtesy of the Golden Knights