Stars doomed by slow start in Game 6 of Western Final

DALLAS -- There is a reason only four teams in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 series.

The Dallas Stars were unable to climb out of that hole despite pushing the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights to six games after losing the first three.

The Golden Knights ended the series with a 6-0 win in Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Monday and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time since joining the NHL as an expansion team for the 2017-18 season.

"It was maybe one too many nights of us going to the well in an elimination game," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think that was our fourth and I don't think Vegas has played one yet. Every time you play an elimination game, it takes a toll physically, mentally, it's hard to refill that tank over and over again. I just didn't think there was a lot left tonight."

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Stars series coverage]

Dallas fell behind 3-0 in the first period on goals from William Carrier (3:41), William Karlsson (10:25) and Keegan Kolesar (14:00) and were unable to mount a comeback.

Jonathan Marchessault made it 4-0 at 10:25 of the second period, Karlsson scored his second at 2:06 of the third period and Michael Amadio rounded out the scoring at 12:25. Adin Hill made 23 saves for his second shutout of the playoffs.

The Stars simply did not have enough left to climb out of the hole.

"That desperation level going to that place as a player, takes a lot of energy and it's hard to fill that, and you're not just doing it once and then going to the next series, like we did in Game 7 against Seattle (in the second round)," DeBoer said. "You're asking your group to do it four times in a row and that's tough, especially when you're playing an excellent hockey team on the other side."

Dallas captain Jamie Benn returned to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension for cross-checking Vegas captain Mark Stone 1:53 into Game 3. The Stars won two games without Benn but were overwhelmed in the first period in his return.

"They came out hard and found a way to get some early ones, and we couldn't find a way to one by their guy to try and get some momentum," Benn said. "We've come back from two goals or more lots this year, and obviously we didn't want to be in that hole."

It was a disappointing end to the season for the Stars, who defeated the Minnesota Wild in six games in the first round and the Kraken in seven to advance to the conference final for the second time in four seasons. Dallas lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020.

The Stars lost the first two games of the series against the Golden Knights in overtime; 4-3 in Game 1 and 3-2 in Game 2, then lost Game 3 at home, 4-0. But a 3-2 overtime win in Game 4 at home extended the series, and a 4-2 win in Game 5 at Vegas set up Game 6.

"There are definitely the emotions that go through it, the overtime win and the depth win the other night [two goals by fourth-line forward Ty Dellandrea] and you want to come in and do it all over again," Dallas forward Joe Pavelski said. "It takes a toll, but you're trying to keep that momentum going. There is a lot of character for guys to battle and keep having that belief. There was no quit, which was great to see, but there was a little too much, I guess, this time."

Despite the loss, the Stars said they are proud of their season, finishing second in the Central Division (47-21-14), one point behind the Colorado Avalanche.

"We know that it's hard to win in this league and we have a good group of guys and we felt that we could have won this year," Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. "We'll still have pretty much the same group for next year. It's a good experience for us, but it [stinks] right now. We played some pretty good hockey, but not good enough to win."