Vegas Knights beat Dallas Stars 6-1
DALLAS, TEXAS - DECEMBER 09: Matt Duchene #95 of the Dallas Stars and Jack Eichel #9 of the Vegas Golden Knights compete for a faceoff during the second period at American Airlines Center on December 09, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Get
DALLAS (AP) - The Vegas Golden Knights got another win when traveling with their dads, and plenty of them got to see their sons score.
Six Vegas players scored goals and six others had points to help the Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights wrap up their season series against the Dallas Stars with a 6-1 victory Saturday.
"It's pretty cool obviously, all the dads are here," said Paul Cotter, who goal was his first in 18 games since Oct. 30. "When you get lucky enough to to get one while he's in the building, it's pretty cool. So maybe we ought to start bringing these guys here a lot more often."
Cotter joined captain Mark Stone, Zach Whitecloud and Nicholas Roy and Paul Cotter in having a goal and an assist. The Golden Knights began their annual dads' trip with a 6-3 win in St. Louis on Wednesday night, and are 9-0-1 in such games.
Vegas, at 18-5-5 just past one-third of the way through the regular season, has an NHL-high 41 points. Dallas has 15 wins and 33 points in its 26 games, with three regulation losses in its last four games since an 8-1 victory over Tampa Bay a week earlier.
"There's a lot to like," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Our checking game was terrific. We didn't allow them a lot of time and space. ... We wanted to get the right start, and we did."
Cassidy also acknowledged the fortunate scheduling, with Vegas coming off two days off spent in Dallas. The Stars had played three road games in four nights before a day off Friday.
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"It's a tough scheduled game. So I think knowing that, you have to do a few things, you have to be the smarter team, you have to defend well, you have to try and get the lead," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "We didn't do any of those things. We were soft around our net. We didn't help Jake out."
Logan Thompson had 19 saves for Vegas, while Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped 20 of 26 shots.
Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for Vegas.
Chandler Stephenson put Vegas ahead to stay just 2 1/2 minutes into the game on his third goal of the season, a short backhander after a blocked shot. That came not long after Stephenson had a short snap shot knocked away by Oettinger.
Whitecloud made it 2-0 with a wrister from the top of the left circle after some nifty puck movement, with William Carrier taking a pass from Roy and then dropping it to the trailing Whitecloud.
The previous four regular-season games between the Knights and Stars, going back to last season, had all gone beyond regulation. Las Vegas won a shootout at home Oct. 17 in the second game of this season and won in overtime in Dallas on Nov. 22. Plus, three of the six games in their Western Conference Final last May went to overtime.
This time, the Knights led 3-1 after the first period on Stone's eighth goal, which he got after his initial shot ricocheted off a defender's skate right back to him.
Evgenii Dadanov got the lone Dallas goal midway through the first period, knocking in a ricochet after Thompson knocked down Stars captain Jamie Benn's shot with his glove without being able to control the puck.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Play the first of four consecutive home games, against San Jose on Sunday.
Stars: Host Detroit on Monday night in the second of three home games in a row.