On Monday night, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, officially began their title defense with an upset 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. Ahead of the game, Vegas captain Mark Stone and forward William Carrier were activated from long-term injury reserve.
After sitting out the final 26 games of the regular season, it was only fitting that Stone scored the Golden Knights’ first goal of the playoffs just 1:23 into the first period. His lamplighter was just the beginning of an offensive onslaught in the opening frame, with the teams combining for five goals and Vegas holding a 3-2 lead going into intermission.
Brayden McNabb was credited with the game-winner, beating Stars’ netminder Jake Oettinger at 1:06 of the second period to extend the Golden Knights’ advantage to 4-2, a lead they would never relinquish.
The Stars, who finished as the Western Conference’s top team, trailed from the opening two minutes and couldn’t get a fourth goal behind Logan Thompson, who was making his first-career playoff start. The Golden Knights helped their netminder by blocking 20 shots and were the more physical team with 55 hits, compared to just 16 blocks and 29 hits from Dallas.
At the other end, Oettinger was not as sharp, giving up four goals on 15 shots for a .733 save percentage, while Thompson won the goalie battle with a .900 save percentage, thanks to 27 saves.
Earlier in the first period, Jonathan Marchessault gave Vegas a 2-0 lead at 8:27 before Stars’ captain Jamie Benn got his team on the board at 16:07. Tomas Hertl restored the Golden Knights’ two-goal lead at 17:51, tucking home a Noah Hanifin shot on the powerplay.
Less than a minute later, Jason Robertson made it 3-2 at 18:29. The Star’s third goal came midway through the third period at 11:46 when Mason Marchment sniped home on Thompson.
Game 2 is on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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