The Stars fell to the Golden Knights 3-2 Sunday at home in a game where Dallas could not find offensive rhythm.
Both teams headed to Dallas fresh off a road loss – Las Vegas to Nashville and Dallas to Minnesota in overtime – and looked a little fatigued as play began.
“You can see a little bit of our offense is drying up, just what we’re generating,” Head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We survived this stretch with some guys out, some key offensive guys, and to win, we played really, really hard, and at some point you’re going to have a little bit of a lull or a dip. That’s the natural part of the season. So, you can see that the last few games we just have not generated the same amount as we work for a while. That’s part of the ebbs and flows, but we got to find it quickly here.”
As play unfolded, it became clear the Golden Knights had a little more energy. Four minutes in, Brayden McNabb sent a puck flying past Casey DeSmith and scored his fourth goal of the season.
Then Jeremy Lauzon tripped Jason Robertson up, giving the Stars an opportunity to respond on the power play. The top unit came out swinging, and did what it does best, led by Wyatt Johnston. Off a behind the net dart from Matt Duchene, the forward’s 23rd power play goal set a new franchise record for the most power play goals scored in a single season.
Back at an even playing field, Justin Hryckowian, who has been on a heater of his own, wrangled a rebounded shot from Colin Blackwell and slid it around Adin Hill to put up his 11th goal of the season.
This marked the ending of Dallas’ grip on the game. The Golden Knights controlled the second period, and Dallas’ attempts to catch up fell short.
Ivan Barbashev scored on a power play after Nils Lundkvist took a slashing penalty, putting the Knights even with Stars. Dallas got a huge chance soon after, when Jack Eichel’s high stick drew blood from Mavrik Bourque, but the Stars could not connect. Their play was disjointed, changes were not clean and they did not put up a single shot on goal during the double minor.
As the third period unfolded, Dallas slipped even more. DeSmith kept the Stars in it for a while, making diving saves and impressive stops, but he could not make up for Dallas’ lack of offense.
“I would just say they outplayed us tonight,” Matt Duchene said. “They had closer to their A-game than we did. Casey was great. Like I said, we had to push in the third. But first was okay, second wasn’t great. You can’t not play that many good minutes against a team like that and come out with a win usually.”
Reilly Smith ended up securing the game-winning goal at the end of the third after a slick play from Mitch Marner, and handed the Stars their second loss in a row.
Dallas will be on the hunt for redemption and close out this home stand Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT against the New Jersey Devils.