Tonight the Vegas Golden Knights start what they hope is the first of many games in a long and arduous journey as the reigning, defending, and undisputed hockey (heavyweight) champions of the world. In a way it seems fitting that their first-round matchup on the Western Conference side of the bracket is against the team they faced last in the 2023 tournament.
If the Golden Knights want to keep the dream alive, they will need to be a team that finished with the best record in the Western Conference, and a squad being picked by many to knock the Golden Knights en route to taking their crown altogether.
Vegas last squared off against the Dallas Stars in the playoffs on May 29, 2023, and punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final with a decisive 6-0 victory to win the series 4-2. It was an exciting series with close games, and two very talented squads. As mentioned a little earlier, the Stars finished this season atop the Western Conference, and in a way the roles are reversed with Vegas finishing as the second Wild Card who limped into the playoffs. That said, the Golden Knights, despite their regular season record, are entering the playoffs healthy and have serious depth that should give the Stars some fits. With that said, let us get into the series preview.
REGULAR SEASON RECAPS
TALE OF THE TAPE
The two sides met three times in the regular season, and the Golden Knights went 3-0-0 while outscoring Dallas 11-4, but the last meeting came all the way back on December 9, 2023. Both squads have changed in that time, but it is something that certainly may be thought about heading into Game 1.
The one thing that stands out is that defensively the Stars weren’t as strong as last season, and some of that is because Jake Oettinger wasn’t as good as he was last season. To compensate for that, the offense was very impactful, and they did a great job controlling the play at 5v5. Dallas also was very strong on special teams, and their depth allowed them to deploy many dangerous options which made their power play quite scary.
Vegas’ season numbers aren’t all that impressive on special teams, and some of that has to do with injuries. It will be interesting to see how their lineup performs at full strength, because they will likely end up icing players on secondary units that would be on primary units on other teams in the league.
PLAYERS OF NOTE
Dallas Stars
- Jason Robertson: finished regular season as team leader in points (29-51-80 in 82 games played)
- Roope Hintz: 19-30-49 in 63 career playoff games, 10th-most prolific playoff scorer in Stars history
- Jamie Benn: 23-39-62 in 83 career playoff games, 7th-most prolific playoff scorer in Stars history
- Joe Pavelski: 73-66-139 in 182 career playoff games, finished 2nd in team scoring in regular season at age 39 (27-40-67 in 82 games played)
- Wyatt Johnston: led Stars in goals scored this season with 32 in his 2nd NHL season
Vegas Golden Knights
- Jonathan Marchessault: set career-high in goals this season with 43, 34-37-71 in 88 playoff games with Golden Knights, most prolific playoff scorer in team history
- Jack Eichel: 31-37-68 in 63 games played, led Golden Knights with 26 points in 22 playoffs in 2022-23
- Mark Stone: 29-32-61 in 68 playoff games with Golden Knights, 2nd-most prolific playoff scorer in team history
- Tomas Hertl: 24-18-42 in 62 playoff games, 2-2-4 in 6 games with Golden Knights in regular season
- Noah Hanifin: 59.06 xGF% | 53.61 GF% | 55.71 CF% in 19 games played with Vegas, 2 goals and 10 assists
- William Karlsson: 30 goals and 30 assists in 70 games played, 28-35-63 in 88 playoff games with Vegas
- Shea Theodore: 5 goals and 37 assists in 47 games played, 13-47-60 in 87 playoff games with Vegas
DEPTH CHARTS
Dallas Stars
Jason Robertson – Roope Hintz – Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment – Matt Duchene – Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn – Wyatt Johnson – Logan Stankoven
Sam Steel – Radek Faksa – Evgenii Dadonov
Thomas Harley – Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell – Chris Tanev
Ryan Suter – Nils Lundkvist
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Vegas Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault
Chandler Stephenson – Tomas Hertl – Mark Stone
Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Anthony Mantha
William Carrier – Nicolas Roy – Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin – Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Nic Hague – Zach White Cloud
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Goalie Matchup
Dallas Stars
Jake Oettinger
- 0.49 Goals Saved Above Average | 1.46 Goals Saved Above Expected |6.8 GAR
- 35-14-4 | .905 SV% | 2.72 GAA
Vegas Golden Knights
Logan Thompson
- 7.03 Goals Saved Above Average | 6.85 Goals Saved Above Expected
- 25-14-5 | .908 SV% | 2.70 GAA
Series Schedule As Of Today
