Live coverage: Stars squeeze out third straight close win over Golden Knights

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 10:30 a.m.

Updated Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 7:12 p.m.

 DALLAS — The Golden Knights are one loss away from their Stanley Cup defense ending early in stunning fashion.

Vegas lost its third straight to Dallas in the teams’ first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, falling 3-2 to slip into an overall 3-2 series hole.

It would have been no surprise for the Golden Knights to be in this position at the beginning of the series against the Western Conference No. 1 seed Stars. But expectations rose when the Golden Knights upset the Stars in each of the first two games of the series in Dallas.

Vegas hasn’t been able to play at as high of a level ever since, with Dallas taking over and finding ways to win close games.

The winning goal in Game 5 came at the end of the second period, much like in Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena. Jason Robertson roped a puck past Vegas goalie Adin Hill, making his first start of the playoffs, from right faceoff circle on a power play to make the score 3-2.

It was Dallas’ second power-play goal of the night after Matt Duchene punched in a rebound to put Dallas up 2-1 in the first period.

That came after William Carrier got sent to the penalty box for a tripping call. But Carrier was able to atone for the mistake about four-and-a-half minutes later when he wrapped around the Dallas net and jammed a shot past goalie Jake Oettinger.

The game then stayed tied for the next 20 minutes before Pietrangelo got called for roughing on frequent Vegas agitator Tyler Seguin. Robertson’s goal came 1:13 later.

Vegas’ lone power-play goal of the game was quicker-strike, as Mark Stone deflected in a wrister from Noah Hanifin nine seconds into the man advantage to put the Golden Knights up 1-0 at the start of the game.

The sequence was eerily reminiscent to the first goal the Golden Knights scored in the series, which set in motion the circumstances that allowed them to go up 2-0 in the series. That seems like a distant memory now.

The Golden Knights will need more than the significant lineup changes coach Bruce Cassidy implemented for Game 5 in order to extend the series in Game 6 Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Check back later for more coverage of Game 5 between the Golden Knights and Stars. Read below for live updates from throughout the game.

The Stars will carry a lead into the third period. 

Jason Robertson wristed in a power-play goal following an Alex Pietrangelo roughing penalty to put Dallas up 3-2 on Vegas. Adin Hill had turned away a couple dangerous chances in the second period, but he finally got beat at 16:32 of the frame.

Pietrangelo was originally assessed a five-minute major for drawing blood with a punch to Tyler Seguin’s nose, but review changed it to a standard two-minute violation.

The crowd erupted in anger, but the protests turned to cheers real fast with Robertson’s go-ahead goal.

Stars tie it up before first intermission

Offense is dominating the day at American Airlines Center.

Vegas tied the game at 2-2 with around eight minutes left to play in the first period with William Carrier scoring on a wraparound where he slammed the puck past Jake Oettinger. Both teams now have one power-play goal and one even-strength goal.

Vegas leads Dallas 7-6 in shots on goal.

Adin Hill gives up second goal

The goalie switch from Logan Thompson to Adin Hill isn’t working out so far.

Hill just allowed his second goal of the game, a power-play score on a rebound to Matt Duchene. The Stars lead the Golden Knights 2-1.

One of the only things Thompson has done poorly throughout the series is allowed too many rebounds, and Hill is now guilty of the same thing. It’s hard to blame a goalie too much for a power-play score, but the optics aren’t ideal given the controversial change in net.

Hill needs to recover from a rough start.

Dallas answers

Evgenii Dadonov continues to haunt his former team.

He’s now scored Dallas’ first goal in two straight games. It’s 1-1 after Dadonov beat Adin Hill on the rush off a pass from Logan Stankoven.

Vegas’ lead off its initial power-play goal from Mark Stone lasted all of 62 seconds before Dadonov answered.

Mark Stone scores first

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy hoped the major changes he made to the Golden Knights lineup would “juice” his team.

Consider them juiced, as the Golden Knights are already up 1-0 on the Stars through four minutes. Mark Stone scored on a power-play tip-in after Tomas Hertl drew a holding penalty on Miro Heiskanen.  

It was Vegas’ first shot-on-goal of the night. Dallas already has two, and both were decent looks, but reinserted goalie Adin Hill turned away both.

Pregame

 The last thing Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said after a Game 4 loss to the Stars was that the team would be motivated to keep battling for the “one guy who shows up every night,” goalie Logan Thompson.

Little did Marchesssult and his teammates know they wouldn’t have the chance to play in front of Thompson at 4:30 p.m. today when the best-of-seven series continues with Game 5 at American Airlines Center.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy is making sweeping changes to his lineup in an effort to pull away in the series currently tied at two wins apiece, and the biggest comes in net.

Adin Hill, who led the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup last year, will make his first playoff start this season in place of Thompson.

“The decision is, start of the playoffs, we figured we’d probably use both goaltenders,” Cassidy said after the team’s morning skate at American Airlines Center. “It’s how we ran our team this year. You never know how it’s going to play out. I thought Logan played well, put us in a good spot. It’s 2-2. He’s done his job. Adin has been through that so that’s a little bit of what goes into the decision. He’s an experienced guy whose come into the situation before.”

It's a controversial decision considering Thompson has arguably been the best goalie in the NHL postseason so far, especially throughout an overtime loss in Game 3 where he tied a career high with 43 saves.

He’s let in a few iffy shots, including in Game 4, but not nearly as many as Hill did down the stretch of the regular season where he struggled and allowed at least three goals in 10 of his final 11 starts.

The Golden Knights only fell into a first-round matchup with the top-seeded Stars after the lowly Anaheim Ducks scored on Hill thrice on the final day of the regular season to pull off a shocking 4-1 upset.

“We have confidence in whichever goalie is playing,” defenseman Alec Martinez said.

Martinez is big part of the rearranged skating lines and pairs. After being a healthy scratch in the opening game of the playoffs, he’ll now serve on the top pair alongside Alex Pietrangelo.

Cassidy said he felt Pietrangelo and Noah Hanifin were calming influences, so he wanted to spread them throughout the lineup instead of pairing them together like he's done so far in the postseason. Hanifin will play with Ben Hutton, who comes in for Zach Whitecloud for the first time in the playoffs.

Keegan Kolesar is out for the first time among the forwards, with Pavel Dorofeyev entering the lineup to play alongside Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson. The Golden Knights’ second line has struggled mightily despite Stone’s return, and much of the movement has to do with Cassidy looking to get it going.

Tomas Hertl will bounce up to the top line with Marchessault and Jack Eichel, while Barbashev falls to the fourth with Nicolas Roy and William Carrier.

“In the playoffs, you’ve got to get better,” Cassidy said. “You can’t just rely on, ‘OK, we won two games, we’re going to stay steady.’ We need to be better in certain areas and we’re hoping some of these lines can work out better for us. We’ll see tonight, and if they don’t, then we’ll keep trying to get it right.”

Cassidy commended everyone on the team for taking the news in stride. They couldn’t have seen some of the changes coming, especially the one in net, but they “understand,” according to the coach.

“It just adds another element,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “There’s a lot of guys wanting to get into the lineup and now they get their chance. It shakes it up in a good way.”

Stay tuned for live updates throughout the game and read below for more gameday information including the updated lineup.

TV: Scripps Sports locally (Channel 34 on Cox, DirecTV and antenna); ESPN nationally

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Stars -160 (i.e. risking $160 to win $100), Golden Knights +140 (i.e. risking $100 to win $143); over/under: 5.5 (-125/+105)

Golden Knights’ projected lines and pairs

Tomas Hertl – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault

Pavel Dorofeyev – Chandler Stephenson – Mark Stone

Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Michael Amadio

William Carrier – Nicolas Roy – Ivan Barbashev

Alex Pietrangelo – Alec Martinez

Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore

Noah Hanifin – Ben Hutton

Adin Hill

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or