The Dallas Stars will have to wait a little while longer to clinch a playoff spot.
In beating the Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday night, the Stars picked up a huge win but kept Vegas alive in the chase for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Dallas dropped its magic number to clinch a playoff spot to one.
Any combination of one point gained by the Stars or lost by the Golden Knights would send Dallas through to the postseason. The Stars can secure their spot as soon as Wednesday with a point against Arizona, or a Vegas loss in Chicago.
Miro Heiskanen won the game in the seventh round of the shootout for Dallas. Jake Oettinger followed with a save on William Karlsson, and Oettinger was perfect in the shootout.
The formula for the Stars looked familiar: Get timely saves from Oettinger and goals from Jason Robertson.
Robertson scored twice, becoming just the fourth player in Dallas Stars history to score 40 goals in a season. Oettinger made 33 saves. William Carrier and Chandler Stephenson scored for the Golden Knights.
Robertson twice rescued the Stars, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before his goals. In the second period, Robertson side-stepped Brayden McNabb (crumpling him to the ice) before beating Logan Thompson on the far side with a perfectly placed shot. In the third period, he slid through the slot and redirected a pass from John Klingberg.
With his second goal, Robertson joined Mike Modano, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin as the only Dallas Stars to score 40 goals in a season.
Vegas scored in the final minute of both the first and second periods.
With 49 seconds left in the first period, Carrier centered a pass on the rush that banked off of Luke Glendening and into the Stars net. With 3.3 seconds left in the second period, Vegas crashed the net on the power play, resulting in Stephenson’s goal.
On Tuesday night, the Stars had the weight of the hockey world behind them.
A regulation win by Dallas would clinch a playoff spot not only for the Stars, but also for the Nashville Predators and the Los Angeles Kings. But, more importantly for teams around the league, it would eliminate the Golden Knights, the fifth-year team that hasn’t missed the playoffs since it entered the league in 2017-18.
The Golden Knights have become one of the most disliked teams in the league given their success (or lack of suffering), to go along with their continued pursuit of every big name on the trade or free agent market, and their usage of long-term injured reserve to ice a team that is cap compliant.
As a result, dozens of other fanbases joined social media cries for a Stars win.
“We’re down to the last three games,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said before the game. “We still don’t have an X beside our name. We’re playing a team that has to win tonight. They have to win. This is an exciting day. This is a great day to be part of the National Hockey League.”
The Stars have had big games with the Golden Knights in recent years. Dallas hosted the first game in Vegas franchise history in 2017. The two sides tangled in the Western Conference Finals in 2020, highlighted by Anton Khudobin’s performance and Denis Gurianov’s series-winning one-timer.
“Playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and being able to go that far was a grind, but it was worth it,” Klingberg said. “It was a lot of fun and a great experience. I just wish, obviously, it wasn’t COVID restrictions and all that. That would have been unreal to be able to play in all the arenas and with all the fans. That’s what we want to do. We want to get back in the playoffs and feel that atmosphere again.”
A clincher with most of the league wearing victory green?
Not Tuesday night. Wednesday night will present another chance.
— The Stars used the same lineup as during their win over Seattle on Saturday. That meant forwards Alexander Radulov, Marian Studenic and Jacob Peterson, and defensemen Joel Hanley and Andrej Sekera remained healthy scratches.
With Oettinger’s start on Tuesday night, Scott Wedgewood could be in line to start Wednesday night against Arizona.
— AHL affiliate Texas clinched a spot in the AHL playoffs on Tuesday night with a 4-2 win over Manitoba in Texas’ final game of the regular season. Texas only needed to get a point to secure fifth place in the Central Division, which is good enough to qualify in the AHL.
