Golden Knights get their answer, now it's up to Stars to respond

Well, that was an answer.
Coming off a 1-0 loss to the Dallas Stars and needing to avoid a two-game hole in their best-of-seven series, the Vegas Golden Knights put on a dominating performance Tuesday, controlling play and coming out with a 3-0 victory.
Now it's time for the Stars to come up with their own answer.

"We expected them to come out hard and respond, they're a good hockey team," said Stars center Tyler Seguin. "Vegas is a great team, they've been the favorites all along. We expected them to respond, and I expect us to respond next game."
Because both Vegas and Dallas had to win Game 7s in their previous series on Friday, they are dealing with some tough scheduling challenges in the Edmonton bubble. The Golden Knights were without Ryan Reaves (who was suspended for an illegal hit) in Game 1 and rested goalie Robin Lehner. The Stars came out with a ton of energy Sunday and then held on for a 1-0 win.

Vegas got both Reaves and Lehner back for Game 2, and that made a difference Tuesday. Reaves created energy with eight hits and Lehner made 24 saves for his fourth shutout in the playoffs. Still, the performance of the Golden Knights was a team thing.
Vegas won 61 percent of the faceoffs and had a 32-24 advantage in shots on goal. In fact, the Stars had just 12 shots on goal in the first two periods and were trailing 3-0 at the time.
"We knew we were going to come out with a big push in that first period, and I though we were OK," said Stars interim coach Rick Bowness. "The second period we got absolutely killed in the faceoff circle. They controlled the puck, and when you're doing that, you're controlling the tempo. They were able to come at us, and that took away all of our flow."
Dallas was hanging in the game thanks to a spectacular performance from goalie Anton Khudobin, but the breakdowns became too much. The Stars made a bad line change and that led to Paul Stastny being wide open in front of the net for a tap-in at the 4:53 mark of the second period. Corey Perry took a tripping penalty to create the power play on Vegas' second goal. And then Seguin made a bad read when Jamie Oleksiak activated from his spot on defense, and Vegas got a 3-on-1 for the third goal.
"Those are self-inflicted problems," Bowness said. "They played a great game, give them a lot of credit, but when you lose that many faceoffs and you take that many penalties, there is no chance you can get any flow to your game."

The answer from the Golden Knights was expected, the response from the Stars wasn't. They knew that Vegas would be desperate, but even with the strong play from Khudobin, they just couldn't find a way to match up.
The Stars made a smart review to get a Vegas goal disallowed in the second period, and that still didn't help. The vaunted power play couldn't get anything going in two attempts. Mattias Janmark was stopped on a second period breakaway with the score 2-0.
"When it was 2-0, we had a clear-cut breakaway," Bowness said. "Did we believe we could come back? Yes. Did we get that goal that would give us that extra spark? That was missing. We needed that goal to get us over the hump and believe we had a chance. That breakaway…we score on that and who knows where the game goes."
Janmark has no goals on 24 shots in the playoffs. Tyler Seguin has no points in the past six games. Same with Corey Perry. The Stars were an offensive juggernaut against Colorado, but they have one goal in the past two games. Several key players are sitting in the middle of slumps.

That can be important. Vegas was struggling to get its offense going, and by getting goals from Paul Stastny, William Karlsson and Tomas Nosek, the Golden Knights believe a little bit more heading into Game 3.
"That first goal relieved a little bit of pressure," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We got our game back, and I think once we got that first goal, i think we looked like we normally do, which was making plays and finding space and sticking pucks in the net."
Now, the Stars must try to do the same thing. Seguin had four shots on goal Tuesday. Perry had three. They said they believe they can bust out.
"It can be frustrating, but at the same time we've won a few hockey games," Perry said of the fact he is trying to concentrate on doing little things. "We're battling and trying to do other things to help the team. Those (goals) will come. We're getting our looks, and those will come."
Thursday might be a good time for that to happen.

Oettinger makes NHL debut

Stars rookie goalie Jake Oettinger relieved Khudobin to start the third period, making his official NHL debut. Bowness said the move was simply to get Khudobin some rest, but Oettinger played well.
The 21-year-old made five saves and allowed no goals.

He is the first goalie in the expansion era to make his NHL debut in the round that is leading up to the Stanley Cup Final. Oettinger was taken in the first round (26th overall) by the Stars in 2017 and was 15-16-4 this season with the Texas Stars. He had a 2.57 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
Ben Bishop has been listed as "unfit to play" for much of the playoffs, so Oettinger has been backing up.

Game 3: Stars vs. Golden Knights (series tied 1-1)

Thursday, 7 p.m. CT
TV:NBCSN
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.