DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars will try to tie the Western Conference First Round against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.
Vegas won 4-3 in Game 1 on Monday.
Dallas lost a Game 1 three times in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. In the first round against the Minnesota Wild, the Stars won Game 2, lost Game 3 and won the series in six games. In the second round against the Seattle Kraken, they won Game 2, lost Game 3 and won the series in seven. In the conference final against the Golden Knights, they lost the first three games and the series in six.
“We’re here again, and we have to deal with it,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say that it’s great. I also have great confidence in our group that we will respond. One win in these type of series swings the momentum greatly.”
The Golden Knights expect the Stars to be better in Game 2.
“They lost all three Game 1s last year in their series, so I think Dallas is going to be fine in that regard,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They know how to bounce back. They’re a resilient group. But it’s good for us to get the early lead.”
Teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 series are 348-55 (.864 winning percentage) in NHL history.
Here are 3 Keys for Game 2:
1. Goaltending
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger allowed four goals on 15 shots in Game 1.
“Obviously, I can be better personally, and that’s all I’m focused on, is just having my best game,” he said. “I know we have a great team in front of me, and guys are going to do their job. It’s just up to me to up my game, and if I play the way I have been lately, we’re going to like the result.”
Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson allowed three goals on 29 shots in his first NHL playoff appearance. With a 4-2 lead at 11:46 of the third period, he allowed an innocent shot from the left wing by forward Mason Marchment to elude his glove, giving Dallas life. But he and his teammates didn’t crumble.
“It ends up being a good thing for him to go through in the long run,” Cassidy said. “Hopefully that’s something that helps him next time he has to face that kind of situation.”
2. Special teams
In the regular season, the Stars ranked sixth in the NHL on the power play (24.2 percent) and eighth on the penalty kill (82.0). The Golden Knights tied with the San Jose Sharks for 20th on the power play (20.2) and ranked 16th on the penalty kill (79.3).
But Vegas had defenseman Noah Hanifin and forwards Tomas Hertl and Mark Stone in the same lineup for the first time in Game 1. Hanifin assisted on power-play goals by Stone and Hertl, and all three killed penalties. The Golden Knights went 2-for-2 on the power play, the Stars 0-for-2.
“You look at the numbers going into the series, we had an advantage on special teams,” DeBoer said. “Now, they’re adding Stone and Hertl and [Hanifin]. Those guys skew the numbers a little bit. We’ve got to win the goaltending battle. We’ve got to win the special teams battle when you get the razor-thin margins this time of year.”
3. Decision-making
After the Golden Knights took a 4-2 lead on a goal by defenseman Brayden McNabb at 1:06 of the second period, they had six shots the rest of the game -- two in the second, four in the third.
Some of that was a function of the score, but not all of it.
“I thought in the second period, when we got over the blue line, we didn’t make good decisions on how we were going attack next,” Cassidy said. “We made some lateral plays that came back at us. …
“Once we get over the blue line, how can we penetrate better? What are the different options for us, playing off the shot versus chipping versus turning up versus maybe over-supporting the original entry? There’s different terms we’ll use, but that’s where we can improve.”
Golden Knights projected lineup
Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Jonathan Marchessault
Chandler Stephenson -- Tomas Hertl -- Mark Stone
Brett Howden -- William Karlsson -- Anthony Mantha
William Carrier -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Alec Martinez -- Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Scratched: Michael Amadio, Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev, Ben Hutton
Injured: Nicolas Hague (lower body)
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Mason Marchment -- Matt Duchene -- Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Logan Stankoven
Sam Steel -- Radek Faksa -- Evgenii Dadonov
Thomas Harley -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell -- Chris Tanev
Ryan Suter -- Nils Lundkvist
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Ty Dellandrea, Craig Smith
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body)
Status report
Hague, a defenseman, is day to day after being injured late in the third period of a 4-3 win in Game 1 on Monday. ... The Stars will dress the same lineup they used in Game 1.
NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report
