Slumping Golden Knights play host to surging Stars
Marred in a slump that has seen them lose four of their past five games, the Vegas Golden Knights open a brief two-game homestand on Thursday against the Dallas Stars in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights dropped three of four games on an eastern road trip that concluded with a 3-2 overtime loss at Montreal on Tuesday. Jake Evans scored at 3:58 in overtime to win it for the Canadiens, who swept the two-game regular-season series.
The loss at Montreal came after arguably the team's worst loss of the season on Sunday at Ottawa, 7-1. Rasmus Anderson scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights with 4:55 remaining to avoid the shutout. The six-goal margin tied for the worst loss in franchise history.
The only win on the trip came on Friday at Toronto in Mitch Marner's much-anticipated homecoming, 6-3. The Golden Knights opened the trip with a 4-3 loss at Boston.
"Not our best trip obviously," Vegas defenseman Ben Hutton said. "Tough one in Ottawa. We were happy the way Toronto went, but we pride ourselves on every night getting points, and we didn't do that on the road trip. We'll look at some things and we'll get back to work."
Despite the recent struggles, Vegas still enters Thursday's contest in first place in the Pacific Division with 63 points, one more than the Edmonton Oilers.
One bright spot in the loss to Montreal was the play of right wing Pavel Dorofeyev, who scored both goals and has eight goals in his last nine games. Dorofeyev is also second in the league in power-play goals (13) behind Wyatt Johnston of Dallas, who has 17.
"I'm not trying to focus on it too much," Dorofeyev said of his hot streak. "It's just the way it is. Sometimes you are hot, sometimes you are cold. It's just hockey."
Dallas is third in the stacked Central Division with 69 points, just one behind the second-place Minnesota Wild, and has a game in hand. The Stars completed a home-and-home sweep of the last-place St. Louis Blues with a 4-3 road victory on Tuesday, blowing a 3-0 third-period lead in the process. Thomas Harley scored the game-winner with just over a minute left.
"This just goes to show you what happens when you drop a degree," Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "It doesn't matter who you're playing or where they are in the standings, everyone in the league is a good team."
Matt Duchene scored twice for his first multi-goal game of the season and Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars, who improved to 16-7-6 on the road. By comparison, Vegas has won just 12 times in 25 home games (12-7-6).
Duchene said leaving St. Louis with two points was key, especially after blowing the three-goal lead in the final 20 minutes.
"Any game you win is a good one," Duchene said. "It's a good lesson that you can't take your foot off the gas, because teams will turn it around on you."
This is the first of three regular-season meetings between the two teams. Vegas is 12-4-4 all-time against Dallas but the Stars won two of the three meetings last season.