Resilience Comes Through as Golden Knights Come Back and Defeat Stars 5-4

What a game.

The Vegas Golden Knights (15-10), after trailing all game came back and defeated the Dallas Stars (13-9-2) by the score of 5-4 on Wednesday night. The Stars scored three goals on the powerplay and Robin Lehner was pulled in the second period. But the inability to go away allowed the Golden Knights to come back and win the game, in regulation nonetheless.

There were no lineup changes for the Golden Knights. Jack Eichel, Alec Martinez, and Nolan Patrick remain out for the Golden Knights on injured reserve. It was also Hispanic Heritage Night for the Golden Knights a T-Mobile Arena. The team wore special purple jerseys during warmups and they were signed and auctioned off during the game.

Coming in the Stars had won eight straight games, last defeating the Arizona Coyotes who the Golden Knights also recently saw. The Stars powerplay coming in was also fifth in the league, which continued the trend of the Golden Knights facing teams with lethal powerplays. 

The powerplay was the difference for the Stars all throughout the early stages of the game as they scored three powerplay goals on their first three attempts. All of these came off of shots from the point with traffic in front of Lehner. The first Stars goal came with Jason Robertson scoring his eighth goal of the season with Joe Pavelski providing a nice screen.

The Golden Knights were able to tie the game just nineteen seconds into the second period with Mark Stone scoring on the expiring Golden Knights powerplay. He was set up beautifully from a stretch pass by Alex Pietrangelo.

However, the Stars went on to score two more goals on their powerplay with Tyler Seguin getting a lucky pinball bounce off a point shot and then Pavelski tipping home a goal. Lehner was pulled after the Stars’ third goal. Fans at T-Mobile Arena cheered when the announcement of Laurent Brossoit replacing Lehner was announced.

Despite all of this bad luck the Golden Knights played a quality game and finished the game outshooting the Stars 45 to 23. The Golden Knights had continued sustained offensive pressure led by Pietrangelo who had yet another big night on both sides of the puck. He has two assists and was a plus-three in 28 total minutes of ice time.

The Golden Knights were able to put the game within one on a delayed penalty to Jani Hakanpaa. Another stretch pass from Pietrangelo found Jonathan Marchessault who scored his team-leading eleventh goal of the season in his 300th game as a Golden Knight.

Pavelski continued his strong game in the third period and fired home a shot from the right point which whistled past Brossoit and made it 4-2. But Pietrangelo, again, after saving a goal, was able to set up a play which resulted in Michael Amadio scoring to put the Golden Knights back within one.

The Golden Knight’s persistence continued as they scored a goal off the rush to tie the game with just over five minutes left in the game. The first line set up Stone who scored his second goal of the game on a rebound from Dylan Coghlan and the Golden Knights tied the game 4-4.

Just 1:07 later, and after Dallas Stars’ assistant coach Derek Laxdal was hit by a puck on the bench the Golden Knights scored again. Max Pacioretty buried home another rebound from a point shot and scored his seventh goal of the season. The Golden Knights finally had their first lead of the game late in the third period.

The Stars pulled Holtby but the Golden Knights held on and got a massive win over the Stars in regulation. They are now 8-2-0 in their last ten home games. The team will play once again at home Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers who have lost ten-straight games.

VHN’s Three Stars: Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Joe Pavelski