Vegas Golden Knights outshine Dallas Stars to advance to Stanley Cup Final

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Vegas Golden Knights are going to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. That's after they shut out the Dallas Stars 6-0 Monday night to win the best-of-seven series four games to two.

According to the National Hockey League, Monday marked the Golden Knights 50th postseason win, which trails only the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most since entering the league in the 2017-2018 season.

Once again, the Vegas Golden Knights got on the board first thanks to William Carrier. Just 3:41 into the game, he was able to get the puck past the outstretched arms of Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger with a backhander to make it 1-0.

At 8:36, Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell saved a goal by tipping the puck away from the net but was given a two-minute penalty, which gave Vegas its first power play of the night. The Golden Knights extended their lead by converting on the power play thanks to William Karlsson. At 10:25, Nicolas Roy found William Karlsson in front of the net for the snap shot to go up 2-0. That was Karlsson's ninth goal this postseason, which is the most by a Golden Knight in a single postseason in franchise history.

The scoring didn't stop there. Next up was Keegan Kolesar who added a goal 14 minutes into the period. Carrier passed the puck to Kolesar who shot a wrister to the back of the net to put Vegas up 3-0 over Dallas.

Cassidy said the team came out of the gate strong.

"We've had a lot of pace. We're executing well better than the other night and putting them on their heels," Cassidy said. "They don't all have to be pretty goals."

The first period was in the books and the Golden Knights led the Stars 3-0 in front of 18,532 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Following Monday's win, Vegas is now 6-0 this postseason when leading after the first period.

"I think we're playing well together but our depth has been good all year," said Roy. "We want to be hard to play against. I think we're a good group defensively. We're good at protecting pucks and making it hard for their D."

Our Johnny Resendiz caught up fans at the VGK watch party at Circa's Stadium Swim who said they were excited with how the game was looking after the first period.

Heading into the second period, VGK center Jack Eichel got a two-minute penalty for high-sticking at 4:03 to give Dallas its first power play of the night. However, the Stars weren't able to take advantage of the power play thanks to strong defense in the net from VGK goaltender Adin Hill. Vegas' defense was strong Monday night tallying 16 blocks through 27 minutes.

At 7:39, Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter picked up a two-minute penalty for elbowing that knocked Kolesar's helmet off. That gave the Knights another power play. However, Vegas wasn't able to score.

However, the Golden Knights were able to add to its lead minutes later. Marchessault got the feed from Ivon barbashev to rip one past Oettinger to put Vegas up 4-0. Marchessault didn't score any goals in the first seven games of the playoffs. Since, then he's scored nine.

That would be the only goal of the second period. The Golden Knights were leading the Stars 4-0 heading to the third period.

Just under three minutes into the third period, Karlsson had his second goal of the night with the assist from Michael Amadio. Amadio stole the puck from Dallas Stars defenseman Joel Hanley before feeding it to Karlsson. That is Karlsson's 10th goal of the playoffs.

At 6:24, the Stars got another power play after referees called VGK out for interference against Stars center Ty Dellandrea. But once again, Dallas wasn't able to score.

The Vegas Golden Knights continued to add onto its lead with a snap shot goal from Amadio at 12:25 to make it 6-0. That would be the final goal of the night as Vegas claimed victory by shutting out Dallas.

Eichel, who will be making his first Stanley Cup Final appearance, said it was a great win.

"I don't think we loved our game, the two prior games. We needed to come out here and play like we have. We had a good start and it continued for 60 minutes," Eichel said. "It means a lot to do it with these guys. It's been an awesome year. It's a lot of fun coming to the rink and being with these guys every day. I'm proud to be part of this organization. It's been a great journey and we have four more wins to go."

For Mark Stone, he said a lot of emotions are going through his mind.

"It first starts with missing the playoffs last year and management and ownership giving this group a chance to come back and go at it again. It shows a lot of trust in the players," Stone said. "We had one goal at the beginning of the season, which was to get better every day and give us a chance to play for the cup and that's what's happened."

KTNV

Cassidy said he's proud of how the team played.

"We were ready to play. We wanted to get the series done and our guys were focused on winning the slot battle and we were able to do that tonight," Cassidy said. "Some of these things define your legacy as a hockey player, not a person but as a player. We talked about it and let's make sure to put our best foot forward. Don't leave anything off the table and that's what we did tonight."

VGK hasn't been to the Stanley Cup final since the 2017-2018 season when they lost in five games to the Washington Capitals. However, VGK has six players from that squad who are still with the team: Carrier, Karlsson, Marchessault, Brayden McNabb, Reilly Smith, and Shea Theodore.

The Stanley Cup Final starts on Saturday with Game 1 at The Fortress. The Golden Knights will face the Florida Panthers who last took the ice after they swept the Carolina Hurricanes back on May 24.

A limited number of tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday at 1 p.m. The Vegas Golden Knights ticketing staff said season ticket members will automatically retain their season tickets for every home playoff game at T-Mobile Arena. They add season ticket holders will receive an email on Stanley Cup Final ticket pricing, additional ticket options, and parking on Tuesday morning with an email from their membership services account executive.

Tony Gutierrez, Associated Press