Heika’s Take: Stars face sizable task after dropping Game 2 to Golden Knights

When the Stars got down 3-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Western Conference Final, coach Pete DeBoer said the challenge was like eating an elephant – you have to do it one bite at a time.

The Stars pushed that series to six games before losing in game six to the eventual Stanley Cup champions.

This season, they are down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series after a 3-1 home loss Wednesday. So, how big is this challenge?

“It’s big, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” DeBoer said.

Dallas controlled much of the first period and scored first when Jason Robertson popped in a power play goal. However, Vegas bounced right back when Radek Faksa turned a puck over, and Golden Knights star players Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault got behind Ryan Suter and Thomas Harley to tie things up at the 18:09 mark of the first.

The Stars had an 11-6 edge in shots on goal, a 24-14 advantage in shot attempts and had twice as many quality scoring chances, so there was a feeling of disappointment in the first intermission.

“I loved our first period,” DeBoer said. “We make one mistake at the end of the first and that was a critical point in the game. The wrong guy gets behind us at the wrong time, and that’s what they do, they make you pay. You come out of the first after playing a great period, and you have nothing to show for it, and that was a momentum swing.”

After that, Dallas was able to generate just 10 total shots on goal – five in the second and five in the third. As much as Logan Thompson was very good in net for Vegas, the bottom line is a team that has some of the best defensemen in the league and knows how to play a suffocating style, gave the Stars very little.

“We just didn’t generate a lot of shots on net. Five shots, that’s not enough,” said Robertson, who has two goals in two games so far. “They’re the defending Cup champs for a reason. They know how to squeeze it out and finish the game out. We need to generate more shot attempts, look for some tips and get some second and third chances.”

Dallas was the third in scoring this season at 3.59 goals per game, but has just four goals so far in the first two games against Vegas. The game also was different in that Dallas was credited with 53 hits. It averaged 17.6 hits per game during the regular season, ranking 31st in the league.

“Maybe we’re hitting too much, maybe we need to go for pucks more,” Tyler Seguin said. “We’ll take a look at it.”

DeBoer said he liked the physical play – Vegas finished with 55 hits – but didn’t like the fact that both Mason Marchment and Faksa left the game with injuries in the third period.

“I liked the fact that both teams were physically engaged,” DeBoer said. “I didn’t think it hurt our game, other than we lost some bodies.”

There was no update on either player after the game, so we’ll see if either or both could be out for Game 3 on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Vegas finished with a 26-21 advantage in shots on goal in this game, and did a wonderful job of holding onto a one-goal lead before adding an empty-netter late. The Golden Knights battled injuries all season and finished as the second wild card team/eight seed in the Western Conference. That means they drew the top-seeded Stars and had to play on the road to start the series.

But it didn’t take long for this team to find its game after adding the likes of Mark Stone, Tomáš Hertl, Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin into the mix. Vegas is playing like the defending Stanley Cup champs and now gets the chance to take its 2-0 lead home, where it was 27-12-2 this season, sixth best in the league. Dallas was 26-10-5 for the most road wins in franchise history and the best road record in the NHL this season.

“We’ve been the best road team in the league, and we’ve got to go in there and win,” DeBoer said. “But they’re a very good hockey club for a reason. I think they have a deeper roster than they had last year.”

That’s a scary proposition, but the Stars know what they’re up against. After all, Dallas won two games when facing elimination last season – and that was after overcoming 2-1 series deficits against Minnesota and Seattle.

“We’ve prided ourselves all year on how we respond,” said Seguin. “That was the message right away. You’ve got to start with one. We’ve been a good road team all year and we’ve got to do it again.

The historic odds aren’t good for the Stars. Since the NHL started the wild card format in 2014, teams that go down 2-0 in a best-of-seven series while losing the first two at home are 3-24 in winning the series.

“Disappointed,” DeBoer said when asked about the reality of his top-seeded team being in such a big hole. “I thought Game 1, we probably deserved better, but you’ve got to find a way to win that game. Tonight, the margin was [tiny]. It was a 1-1 game for most of the game. They found a way to win both.”

And that’s what Vegas has done. It went 16-6 in the playoffs last season and was just a bit better on a lot of nights. This team knows how to win playoff games.

“Maybe we’re a little frustrated by last year, knowing how good a team we are, especially 5-on-5,” Seguin said. “We’ll take the day tomorrow and reset and get excited for this challenge ahead of us.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.