After missing a chance to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions in a tightly contested Game 6 on Friday, Dallas Stars coach Peter DeBoer was already looking forward to Sunday's home showdown with the Vegas Golden Knights.
"There is nothing better than Game 7," he said. "That's what you grew up dreaming about playing in. The second best thing is coaching in them. Just excited. I'm excited for our group. I'm excited for the fans in Dallas. Let's get home and drop the puck."
The Stars secured home ice for the deciding game in this first-round series by earning the top seed in the Western Conference with 113 points, proving that the regular season does actually mean something when it comes to the playoffs.
"This is what it's all about, right?" DeBoer said. "This is exactly the spot you want to be in, playing to advance, one game at home, and let it fly."
DeBoer knows a thing or two about Game 7s. He is a perfect 7-0 in that situation, including a win against the Golden Knights when he was coach at San Jose in 2019. Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy is 2-2 in Game 7 action.
The Golden Knights won the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Dallas by 4-3 and 3-1 scores. But Dallas rebounded to win the next three in a row before falling 2-0 on Friday in Las Vegas.
Noah Hanifin scored the game-winner on a wrist shot that deflected off the stick of Stars defenseman Ryan Suter midway through the third period and Adin Hill, who finished with 23 saves, made it stand up. Mark Stone added an empty-netter to seal it with 18.9 seconds remaining.
"I feel like coming into this series, you probably would have expected this," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. "If you had asked us down 2-0 if we would take Game 7 at home, we'd say yeah. So it should be exciting."
Vegas is 2-1 in Game 7 in its young history and won its last one in 2021, 6-2, against the Minnesota Wild.
"Got to stick to the same plan that got us here," Stone said. "We've played in big games before. Everyone in this room has been in big games. You've just got to put your best foot forward. It's a one-game elimination."
"Need to do more of what we did tonight," Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo added. "Tonight was essentially like you have to treat a Game 7. It's do or die. If you look at our group, we rise to the occasion. We did that last year."
DeBoer said his team had nothing to be dejected about after Friday's loss. Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of 29 shots and continued his standout play in the series.
"It was a great hockey game," DeBoer said. "Fans got their money's worth. Entertaining. Great goaltending.
"What a great game for goaltenders," Cassidy added. "It's 0-0 in the third and sometimes those are snooze-fests, but it wasn't tonight. I think it was one of those games where the goalies were the two dominant players in the game and something had to give."
Sunday's winner will face the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.
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