Comments / New

Golden Knights crush Stars 6-0 in Game 6 to clinch series, advance to Stanley Cup Final

Posted on by Jillian Wagner

The Vegas Golden Knights did it.

It took three tries, but the Golden Knights finally finished off the Dallas Stars and did so in completely dominant fashion, securing the all-important fourth win of the series with a 6-0 victory in Game 6 Monday night at American Airlines Center.

The win helped the Golden Knights clinch the Western Conference to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. Vegas will face the Florida Panthers.

The Golden Knights played a flawless 20 minutes to start the game, setting the tone, silencing the home crowd and taking a 3-0 lead 14 minutes in. They added a fourth goal in the second period and two more in the third in an absolute thrashing.

Adin Hill had a well-deserved quiet night in net but had yet another solid game, stopping 23 of 23 shots for his second shutout of the series. This win would not have been possible without his outrageously clutch play throughout the series.

Jake Oettinger was not to blame for the loss despite giving up six goals on 29 shots. His team got steamrolled.

For the fourth game in a row, the Golden Knights were the first to light the lamp.

Bruce Cassidy put Nicolas Roy back on the fourth line ahead of tonight’s game, and the move paid dividends immediately. The fourth line started the game and had a spectacular shift to set the tone early; on its second shift, the trio put the puck in the back of the net.

The forecheck took advantage of a few Dallas turnovers, and when the puck popped out to William Carrier, he made no mistake, outwaiting Oettinger and burying the backhand to make it 1-0 just 3:41 into the first.

Unlike in Games 4 and 5, the Golden Knights didn’t take their foot off the gas after taking the early lead. In fact, the Golden Knights played with urgency for the full 20 minutes of the first and for almost the entire 60-minute contest.

The Golden Knights continued to pour on the pressure, and an odd-man rush set up a Shea Theodore shot from the slot. Oettinger got a glove on it, but the rebound popped up into the air. It was headed for the empty cage until defenseman Esa Lindell batted it out of mid-air; he saved a goal but sent it right out of play, setting up a Vegas power play.

It was a relatively uneventful power play, but the Golden Knights’ puck retrieval remained diligent and ultimately helped them convert.

After Ivan Barbashev helped William Karlsson win a battle along the boards, he sent a cross-ice pass to Reilly Smith, who then fired a pass towards the crease. The puck deflected off Roy and went right to Karlsson, who potted his ninth of the playoffs.

The goal set a franchise record for most goals by a Golden Knights skater in a single postseason.

The Golden Knights weren’t finished, though, and neither was the fourth line.

One game after Dallas’ fourth line scored two key goals in the third period, Vegas’ answered in the first.

After one of many strong Vegas breakouts in the first period, the Golden Knights completed a give-and-go in the offensive end that resulted in a wide-open Keegan Kolesar scoring his second of the playoffs to make it 3-0.

Vegas continued its stifling play for the rest of the frame. Hill had to make his first real save late on a deflection in front, but he calmly turned it away as he has done all series.

The Golden Knights outshot the Stars 16-7 in the first period; at 5-on-5, Vegas led 14-3 in scoring chances and 6-0 in high-danger chances.

It was a completely one-sided period, and it played a huge role in Vegas’ decisive elimination win.

The Stars began to push back in the second period, but Vegas’ defensive structure did not falter.

The Vegas penalty kill came up with a significant kill early in the period, preventing the Stars from getting any momentum whatsoever.

The Stars had the better of the play early, but for the second period in a row, Vegas held Dallas without a single high-danger chance (including on the Stars’ power play).

Vegas played well defensively but was unable to generate much in the offensive zone through the first half of the period; in fact, the Golden Knights were held without a single shot on goal through the first 10:25.

However, Vegas made the most of its first shot, as Jonathan Marchessault added yet another big goal to his resume, collecting Barbashev’s feed and beating Oettinger five-hole.

It was another goal scored after a clean exit, as Nicolas Hague sent it around the boards (something Cassidy said the Golden Knights were unwilling to do in Game 5).

Marchessault’s ninth of the playoffs made it 4-0 midway through the second.

In the end, the Golden Knights outshot the Stars 7-5 in the middle frame. Through two periods, Vegas had blocked 18 shots and given up just 12.

That set up a critical do-or-die third period for the Stars with their season completely on the line.

But once again, it was Vegas that rose to the occasion.

It took just 2:06 for the Golden Knights to truly put this game away.

Karlsson scored his second of the night, fourth of the series and team-leading 10th of the postseason to make it 5-0 early. Michael Amadio recorded his first point of the series, leaving a great drop pass for Karlsson, who beat Oettinger from the slot.

Amadio then scored a goal of his own to make it 6-0 at 12:25 of the third, but the game was long over.

In a must-win game, the Golden Knights absolutely delivered. In every way imaginable.

“It was definitely our best game of the playoffs, and it came at the right time,” Cassidy said.

The Golden Knights were so dominant that they took the Stars out of the game and barely let them compete.

The first period may have been the best period in franchise history, and Game 6 was one of the best games the Golden Knights have ever played.

The killer instinct that had been missing in Games 4 and 5 was there from the first puck drop.

“Guys responded well to a little adversity to get down,” Cassidy said. “[We had a] great start, and we just kept going from there.”

The Golden Knights cleaned up their game with surgical precision.

The forecheck went to work on the first shift of the game and was relentless all night. Breakouts were excellent from the get-go. The Golden Knights played with urgency and capitalized on their chances, scoring four goals on their first 17 shots of the game. Vegas scored on the power play, and the penalty kill came up with a huge stop early in the second.

The Golden Knights protected the middle of the ice, got in shooting lanes, didn’t give up odd-man rushes or second-chance opportunities, surrendered just three high-danger chances all night and didn’t commit egregious turnovers.

Hill didn’t have to stand on his head, the top players stepped up, Vegas pushed the pace and maintained control for 60 minutes, everyone contributed, and the Golden Knights never loosened their grip.

“Everyone did a great job tonight,” Amadio said. “It took everybody, and it was a full [60-minute effort].”

Every area of Vegas’ game that needed to improve was drastically better.

“You don’t want to let a team off the mat,” Cassidy said. “We were up 3-0, there was some chatter about that so we wanted to make sure we took care of business. Once we did get the lead, I thought we did a great job of staying focused on what was in front of us.”

The performance was about as complete as it gets, and it was a statement win by a team that returned to form to close out the series on the road.

Vegas left no doubts about which team was better in Game 6.

“We earned that win tonight with depth, and we didn’t panic,” Mark Stone said.

Members of the Misfit Line – Karlsson, Marchessault and Smith – have now accounted for 10 goals in the last four Vegas elimination games this postseason.

But 10 different Golden Knights skaters recorded at least a point, and five had multi-point efforts, a list that includes Carrier, Kolesar and Amadio (as well as Smith and Karlsson, who had a game-high three points).

The fourth line set the tone early and had a standout performance, finishing the game with two goals, a 71.43 percent Corsi share, five high-danger chances and a whopping 97.82 percent expected goal share in 7:06 of ice time.

By contrast, the Stars’ entire lineup had zero goals and three high-danger chances in 60 minutes.

“We had a lot of guys step up in big ways today,” Stone said. “Roysy, Will Carrier and Keegan Kolesar as a group have been pretty incredible. There’s a lot of teams around this league that would love to have them as their third or second line; we’ve got them as our fourth unit.”

Jamie Benn may have returned to the lineup for the Stars, but the Golden Knights remained focused on doing what they had to do to win.

Needless to say, they followed through on the game plan.

“Congratulations to the Golden Knights,” Pete DeBoer said. “I thought they played a perfect elimination game.”

Following the hard-fought effort and the handshake line, the Golden Knights were presented with the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for winning the Western Conference. There is always superstition around touching the trophy after clinching the Conference; Vegas elected not to.

When asked about the decision after the game, Stone said the team has another trophy in mind.

“We have some guys on this team who have won Cups, and they said the end goal is to win the Stanley Cup, so take a picture and move on.”

The Golden Knights will continue to fight towards reaching that end goal starting in Game 1, which is set for Saturday, June 3 in Las Vegas; the Golden Knights will have home-ice advantage in the series.

“We’re right where we want to be, but the job’s far from complete,” Stone said.

Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.

Talking Points