3 Keys: Stars at Golden Knights, Game 2 of Western Conference Final

(C2) Stars at (P1) Golden Knights

Western Conference Final, Game 2

Vegas leads best-of-7 series, 1-0

3 p.m. ET; ABC, CBC, SN, TVAS

LAS VEGAS -- The Dallas Stars have been the response team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

They'll need another one against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

"We've done this every round," Dallas forward Tyler Seguin said. "We didn't want to do this every round, but here we are again."

The Stars are 5-0 with 11 goals against in the playoffs after a loss.

They lost 4-3 in overtime here Friday, their third straight Game 1 loss in overtime. They won 7-3 in Game 2 against the Minnesota Wild in the first round and defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2 in Game 2 of the second round.

"I wish we wouldn't have to respond so much, that's my problem with it," Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. "I think we've got to get a little more consistency to our game, but to our group's credit, they're an honest group and we have honest conversations of the things we need to fix and whether our commitment was in the right place on the right type of things. They've typically fixed it."

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs Stars series coverage]

The Golden Knights have won three straight games starting with Game 5 of the second round. They've had eight goal-scorers in that span -- including three in Game 1 -- with goalie Adin Hill allowing eight goals on 111 shots (.928 save percentage).

However, they haven't had a 2-0 lead in a series in the playoffs. They lost Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets in the first round before winning four straight to end the series in five games. They won Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round but lost Game 2.

"I just think response is the beauty of the playoffs," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "That's why you're still playing, because you've got a lot of character and you're going to be upset if you don't play your best game. That's going to be our goal to manage that and elevate our game. We haven't gone up 2-0 either, so for us it's a bit of a test as well."

Teams that take a 2-0 lead are 345-55 (.863) winning a best-of-7 series, including 3-1 (.750) in 2023.

Here are 3 keys for Game 2:

1. Is 'Robo' rolling now?

Jason Robertson ended an eight-game goal drought in Game 1, and the relief on his face after he scored at 18:44 of the first period was obvious. It was the longest drought of the season for the Stars forward, who scored 46 goals in the regular season.

"Huge," DeBoer said of Robertson's goal. "You saw by his reaction, it's a weight off him obviously. We needed that to happen, we needed it to happen early in the series. Hopefully he turns that into one of his streaks that he's been pretty legendary for here."

It's obvious to say, but the Stars are a much better team when Robertson is turning his scoring chances into goals. If the goal gets him on a hot streak, look out, Golden Knights. Robertson scored 23 goals in the first 25 games of the regular season.

2. Matchup that matters

The Golden Knights favored having William Karlsson, Reilly Smith and Nicolas Roy on the ice against the Stars' top line of Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski and Robertson as much as possible in Game 1.

They finished even, with Karlsson scoring twice when Hintz's line was on the ice, and Hintz and Robertson each getting a goal when Karlsson's line was on the ice. But Karlsson's line had the puck more and generated more chances with it.

That will be Vegas' favored matchup again, and as the home team it should be able to get it.

"We want to outplay them, outscore them, but neutral is not a bad thing because now it becomes a three-line game and our depth against their depth," Cassidy said. "We've bet on our depth the whole playoffs and so far so good.

"If that ends up being the matchup, we're going to hope they can shut them down or at least counter them, and that's kind of what happened."

3. On the line

The Stars' second line of Max Domi, Mason Marchment and Seguin was on the ice for three goals against in Game 1. It didn't sit well with DeBoer.

Asked Saturday what he saw from that line and the defense it played, the Stars coach responded, "Probably the same way you did."

He described more after Game 1.

"We need that line," DeBoer said. "That line's got to be a difference-maker for us. At the end of the day, they were on for two or three goals against. They did some good things individually on that line, some of those guys at different moments, including Tyler, made a couple of plays. But you can't end up at the end of the night minus-2 or 3 and expect to get hugs and pats on the back."

Seguin talked Saturday about responding.

"We expect more out of ourselves," he said. "I know at the end of the night it says minus-3, but we have a lot of character between us three. We care for each other very much and want to be a successful line. So great thing about this sport is the opportunity to respond. We've done it all year as a group and we'd love to do that as a line."

Stars projected lineup

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Mason Marchment -- Max Domi -- Tyler Seguin

Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov

Luke Glendening -- Radek Faksa -- Joel Kiviranta

Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen

Esa Lindell -- Colin Miller

Thomas Harley -- Joel Hanley

Jake Oettinger

Scott Wedgewood

Scratched:Ty Dellandrea, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson, Riley Tufte

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (undisclosed)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith -- William Karlsson -- Nicolas Roy

Brett Howden -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone

William Carrier -- Teddy Blueger -- Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud

Adin Hill

Jonathan Quick

Scratched: Ben Hutton, Paul Cotter, Kaeden Korczak, Brayden Pachal, Michael Amadio, Phil Kessel

Injured:Laurent Brossoit (lower body), Logan Thompson (undisclosed)

Status report

Hakanpaa was not medically cleared to play Game 1, and when DeBoer addressed the media Saturday he wasn't sure if the defenseman would be cleared for Game 2. Hakanpaa has missed two straight games with Miller replacing him. … Neither team will have a morning skate because the game starts at noon local time.