Golden Knights Squander Advantage Back to Stars

Following Monday’s 4-2 Stars victory, it’s now a best-of-three series. Two of those games will in Dallas, though that hasn’t mattered one bit thus far.

Wait a minute. Isn’t T-Mobile Arena supposed to be a fortress?

Then again, so was the Alamo.

Golden Knights Stumble At Home

After opening with two wins in Dallas, the Golden Knights dropped two in a row on home ice. This was the first time they’ve ever lost Game 4 of a playoff series on home ice.

During the regular season, Vegas was 27-12-2 at home. The Golden Knights were 9-3 on home ice last season while winning the Cup. Vegas goalie Logan Thompson was 16-5-1 at home this season, with an NHL-best 2.15 GAA.

The Golden Knights were potting goals at a rate of 4.25 per game at home over regular-season play. In two home playoff games, they’re averaging 2.0 goals per game.

“In the past three games I think our offense has been lacking in being productive and opportunistic,” Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said.

Eichel Nets Again

Things were looking good early. Michael Amadio, inserted for the first time in the series, opened the scoring in the first period. After Evgenii Dadonov tied it, Vegas center Jack Eichel scored for the third successive game to restore the Golden Knights to the lead.

The momentum swung back to Dallas thanks to a pair of undisciplined penalties by two-time Cup winners in the Vegas lineup. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo went off for a retaliatory roughing call on Roope Hintz. Wyatt Johnston netted on the power play.

Moments later, Chandler Stephenson took a cross-checking penalty on Matt Duchene behind the play. Dallas was now taking it to the Golden Knights. Ty Dellandrea’s goal gave the Stars a lead for the first time with 1:26 left in the second period.

“I think we lost the momentum a little bit in the second period,” Marchessault said. “It’s about momentum swings in the playoffs and I don’t think we managed that well.”

Hintz would lock it down with an empty netter. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who struggled in the two losses at Dallas, made 33 saves for his second successive win.