Dallas defeated Las Vegas 2-1 Tuesday night in a close game that relied heavily on defense.
With just three shots on goal each in the first period, the Stars and the Vegas Golden Knights both started off slow. Dallas got a power play chance when Braeden Bowman got called for tripping, but failed to create anything.
The Golden Knights came out with some energy in the second, as Jack Eichel launched a shot past Jake Oettinger and put up the first goal of the night less than two minutes in. They peppered the Stars with a few more quality chances, but Oettinger was able to keep Vegas from adding more points to the board.
Dallas got a chance to respond when Wyatt Johnston took a high stick to the face from Rasmus Andersson. The Stars had trouble cleanly entering the zone and left the two-man advantage scoreless.
A few minutes later, Thomas Harley sent a long pass towards Colin Blackwell, who danced around a Vegas defenseman in a one-on-one battle and shot the puck at Adin Hill. Oskar Back commandeered the rebound and slid the puck past Hill and evened the score. It is the forward’s fifth goal of the season, assisted by Blackwell who had been creating chances all night.
“It’s always a nice one when your line can get a goal, and it’s been a couple games in a row that, no matter who we’re playing with, we’ve been being able to gel and play pretty well,” Blackwell said. “So, yeah, that was a fun one.”
Lian Bichsel got called for interference thirty seconds later, watched the Stars kill the penalty and then drew a call right after when he received a high stick to the dome by Nick Dowd. Johnston and Jamie Benn teamed up on the power play when the young forward took a diving shot in front of the net that the captain tipped in.
The two teams traded power plays that both ended without scoring, and headed into the second intermission with Dallas up 2-1.
Esa Lindell, consistently a top defenseman for the Stars, shut down a lot of Vegas opportunities tonight. Although he might not show up on the scoreboard tonight, his plays certainly prevented the Golden Knights from putting more points on it.
Defense, head coach Glen Gulutzan said, was a big part of why the team pulled off a win tonight.
As the number of regular season games dwindle, the Stars are looking to finish strong. There have been contributions from every line, defensively and offensively, and each player feels like they have a piece of
“They all feel like they got a little piece of this thing, and that’s important. Because you’re not going to win over one line, two lines, you got to win it with your depth,” Gulutzan said. “When all the good teams start playing each other… you’re going to need more than the superstars, you’re going need those other guys. I think our group is got a lot of guys that are bought in it and feel they’re counted on and making a difference.”
The Stars will continue their stretch of home games Thursday night, as they take on the Edmonton Oilers at 7 p.m. CT.