Knights shut out Stars, level West finals 1-1

[September 09, 2020]  Robin Lehner made 24 saves for his fourth shutout of the playoffs, and the Vegas Golden Knights cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night in Edmonton to even the Western Conference finals at one win apiece.

Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, and William Karlsson and Tomas Nosek also scored for Vegas.

Game 3 is Thursday night.

Lehner, who tied an NHL playoff-series record with three shutouts in the second round against Vancouver, had yielded the net to Marc-Andre Fleury in a 1-0 loss in Game 1 after blanking the Canucks 3-0 in Game 7 on Friday. He posted his seventh career postseason shutout.

Anton Khudobin, coming off his first career playoff shutout in Game 1, recorded 24 saves for Dallas before giving way to Jake Oettinger, who made his NHL debut at the start of the third period and stopped all five shots he faced.

The 21-year-old Oettinger, the 26th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, became the first goaltender in 55 years to make his NHL debut in the round just ahead of the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas, shut out in two of its three previous games, finally broke through offensively in the second period, scoring three goals in less than 10 minutes.

A wide-open Stastny, stationed near the left post, made it 1-0 with his third goal of the playoffs at the 4:53 mark, tapping Max Pacioretty's crossing pass in from the bottom of the right circle.

The Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights face off to start the first period of game two of the Western Conference Final of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Gerry Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Karlsson made it 2-0 just 3:31 later with a power-play goal, firing a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through Khudobin's pads for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Vegas appeared to make it 3-0 just 85 seconds later when Shea Theodore snapped a shot past Khudobin on a power play. However, the goal was wiped off after Dallas successfully challenged that Pacioretty had interfered with Khudobin in the blue ice.

Less than five minutes later, the Golden Knights did increase their lead to 3-0 when Nosek finished a three-on-one rush by burying Chandler Stephenson's pass with a shot inside the right post and past Khudobin's glove side at 14:32.

--Field Level Media

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