Pacioretty gives Golden Knights OT win against Stars

DALLAS -- Max Pacioretty scored 51 seconds into overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Pacioretty got behind the defense while the Stars were changing lines and scored with a backhand off a long pass from Shea Theodore.
"It definitely feels good," Pacioretty said. "We saw the difference tonight of when we play the right way and the wrong way. It started there in the second period. We really found our game, and you can see the difference when we're playing as a unit of five and making sure that we make life hard on their forwards at the blue line.
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Stars highlights]
"We felt that we deserved to come out with a win, and luckily we were able to."
William Karlsson and Chandler Stephenson scored, and Malcolm Subban made 28 saves for the Golden Knights (17-13-5), who won the second half of a back-to-back. Vegas lost to the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Thursday.
"It's huge," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "They're one of the better teams in the League over the past 20 games or so. They've had an unbelievable record and they're playing really well. Hopefully it gives us a lot of confidence going back home."

Taylor Fedun and Jamie Benn scored, and Ben Bishop made 29 saves for the Stars (18-11-4), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games.
"A very good first [period] and a very bad second [period] is what you saw," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "I thought it was even in the third. We had a great chance in overtime but didn't capitalize. We got caught on a change and they did it."
Benn scored on a deflection from a Tyler Seguin pass to tie the game 2-2 at 14:49 of the third period.

"Just jumped on a face-off and got the puck to [Seguin]," Benn said. "He made a great pass."
Fedun scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 15:14 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. He was a healthy scratch the past six games and was put in the lineup prior to puck drop after defenseman John Klingberg was excused for personal reasons.
"Lots of deep breaths," Fedun said about being added to the lineup. "Little bit of adrenaline on my side. But at the end of the day, everybody that's watching, it doesn't matter what's happening behind the scenes in there. You have to be out there and perform, and that's what matters."
"He wasn't even on the ice for warmup," Bowness said. "At 6:30, the guys were going on the ice and he was just getting to the rink. He had to warm up, he scored a big goal, and he did fine. That's [Fedun]. I can put him in any situation and he just deals with it."
Karlsson scored from the left circle at 4:20 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1.

"We talked about it in between periods," Gallant said. "It wasn't going to be good enough to win on the road or win anywhere if we were going to play like that. They competed a lot harder in the second and third, played our game a lot better, and we got a good result."
Stephenson scored on the rush at 14:41 to give Vegas a 2-1 lead.
"It was a little bit of a rolling puck," Stephenson said. "I wanted to get it off because the defense was closing in. Playing with [Pacioretty and Mark Stone], you just have to get open and they'll find you. They're fun to play with."

They said it

"He weathered the storm for us because we had a terrible first period. For him to stand on his head there gave us the confidence to come back in the game and ultimately win it. It's really nice to see him get rewarded because he's done a phenomenal job this year. Often times the backup goalie doesn't get rewarded. It's been really good for him as of late and it's nice to see him get rewarded with a win." -- Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty on Subban
"We have dealt with it as a group and we will continue to deal with it as a group. With obstacles and adversities that we go through, it has really brought us closer and we will continue to stick together." -- Stars captain Jamie Benn on the recent coaching change

Need to know

Pacioretty has a goal in each of the past three games. … Stone and Theodore each had two assists. … Stars forward Alexander Radulov has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Klingberg was dealing with a family illness but is expected to travel with the team and play against the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

What's next

Golden Knights:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Stars:At the Nashville Predators on Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)