The Vegas Golden Knights snapped a three-game losing streak with their backs against the walls in an elimination Game 6, and after shutting the Dallas Stars out 2-0, they look to move on to the second round with a win on the road in Game 7.
Vegas got off to a great start in their series against the top team in the Western Conference by stealing the first two games on the road, but they proceeded to drop two games on home ice and an additional game at American Airlines Arena in Dallas. It wasn’t for a lack of trying that the Golden Knights found themselves in a 3-2 hole, and their play in Game 6 should give them confidence for prevailing in Game 7.
The Golden Knights won the expected goals battle 3.71 to 2.81 per Evolving-Hockey, and they were able to keep things close with the Stars before pulling away after Noah Hanifin scored the opening goal of the game 9:54 into the third period.
Hanifin’s full toolset of skills was on display here as he kept the puck in the zone, got the jets going, and placed a seeing eye shot that deflected off Ryan Suter before beating Jake Oettinger. That goal would stand on the board until there were 19 seconds left in the game, and Mark Stone officially iced the game with an empty-net goal to make it 2-0.
Adin Hill was phenomenal between the pipes stopping all 23 shots faced, and that includes one stop on the penalty kill, and 2 while the Golden Knights had a man advantage.
The series now shifts back to Dallas for a pivotal Game 7, and that game will start at 4:30 p.m. local time and will decide who advances to take on the Colorado Avalanche in the next round.
