Game 1 of the best-of-7 conference final is Sunday at Rogers Place in Edmonton (8 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS), the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.
Dallas defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in overtime in Game 7 on Friday to end that second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series and advance to the conference final for the first time since 2008.
"We trust our defense, we've had great goaltending all year long as well," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said Saturday. "You're going into this, I know they're the favorites, based on the regular season, based on the round-robin, as they should be. That's fine. We've been the underdog in the other two [rounds] as well."
Vegas defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 in Game 7 on Friday to reach the third round for the second time in its three NHL seasons.
"We're just a resilient team," Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "We work hard, and when we work hard, I think we're a successful team. Obviously we have a lot of skill, a lot of great players in that team, but at the end of the day, every night it's going to be the hard-working team that is going to win."
Dallas entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed after the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. It defeated the Calgary Flames in six games in the first round.
The Stars fell one win short of the conference final last season, losing Game 7 of the second round to the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in double overtime.
"Obviously we were in the exact same situation last year and came out on the wrong end of it, and then this year it's nice to get that win and move on, " Dallas captain Jamie Benn said.
Vegas was the No. 1 seed after the round-robin and defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games in the first round.
"Every round you get a better version of the teams you just went through," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think Vancouver was a better version of Chicago, and I think Dallas is going to be a better version of Vancouver. I think they provide the same type of defensive structure and problems that Vancouver gives you, but they're probably a little deeper up front and a little deeper on the back end with some star power."
The Stars, who lost to the Golden Knights 5-3 in the round-robin portion of the Qualifiers on Aug. 3, were 1-0-1 against them in the regular season. Alexander Radulov led Dallas with four points (two goals, two assists), and Tyler Seguin and Klingberg each had three assists. Goalie Anton Khudobin did not play against the Golden Knights. Ben Bishop started each game in the regular season and had a 2.48 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He allowed four goals on 32 shots in the 5-3 round-robin loss.
Max Pacioretty and Shea Theodore led the Golden Knights with one goal and two assists each, and Mark Stone had three assists. Marc-Andre Fleury did not start against the Stars. Malcolm Subban, who was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Lehner on Feb. 24, started each game. Lehner made 40 saves in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Stars with the Blackhawks on Nov. 23.
"It's a [heck] of a team in that locker room," Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner said. "Everyone's really close, and everyone believes we're a really, really good team."
The Stars have never played the Golden Knights in the playoffs.
It is the fifth time the Stars have advanced to the conference final since relocating as the Minnesota North Stars prior to the 1993-94 season. They made it three straight seasons from 1998-00, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999 (defeated the Buffalo Sabres in six games) and losing to the New Jersey Devils in the 2000 Stanley Cup Final (six games).
The Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets in five games to win the 2018 conference final before losing the Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals in five games.
