Heika’s Take: Stars come up just short in overtime against Golden Knights

The Stars and Vegas Golden Knights are forging a pretty good rivalry.

The only problem for Dallas is that Vegas has won six of the last eight meetings.

To be fair, four of the Golden Knight victories have come in overtime or shootout – like a 2-1 OT win in Dallas on Wednesday – but the bottom line is that Vegas has come up with the big plays when they needed them.

Jack Eichel powered through a few fumbles en route to the game-winning goal at 1:57 of overtime. It was fortuitous and also relentless for Eichel, who helped his team move to 14-4-2 on the season. The Stars fall to 12-4-2.

“It was a tight game,” said Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who finished with 24 saves. “Two great teams and it could’ve gone either way.”

Vegas beat the Stars, four games to two, in the Western Conference Finals last season. The Golden Knights won the first two games in overtime on home ice. They then took a 3-2 shootout win in Vegas on Oct. 17. In both games, the Stars had some great chances in overtime but just couldn’t cash in. In both games, Vegas made the right play at the right time. The Stars had the better of possession in the overtime and had two great scoring chances from Jason Robertson. However, Vegas goalie Adin Hill came up with big saves. When Eichel got into the Stars’ zone, he lost control of the puck, and that led Oettinger to lay out. When Eichel finally recovered the puck, he was able to bang it past Oettinger for the game-winner.

“Good hockey game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Two good teams. We did some good things in overtime and had some looks, but they found a way to win the game. But big picture, we are going into the break in a good spot, and we have things that we have to get better at, but it was an important point.”

Dallas is in the middle of a five-game homestand that ends Friday against Calgary. The Stars are 2-1-1 so far and can help out a 5-3-1 home record with a win against the Flames.

“Those overtime points are important, so we want to get better at that as well, but you’re not playing three-on-three in the playoffs, so I am not too worried about that,” Oettinger said.

Instead, he’s focused on collecting as many points as possible and playing the game as well as possible.

The Stars saw the return of defenseman Thomas Harley and also the return of the top line. Harley was back in the lineup after missing 3 games with a face injury. He played 18:02 and had five shot attempts. The top line was broken up last game when Robertson was moved to a line with Wyatt Johnston, but DeBoer put the line back together in the second period, and they rewarded him with a goal.

Joe Pavelski found Roope Hintz streaking in on the left wing, and Hintz tallied his eighth goal of the season to tie things up heading into the third period. Vegas had control of the game and scored on a power play in the first. However, the Stars dominated puck possession in the second period, and that helped flip momentum to the home side of the ice.

Dallas finished with a 32-24 edge in shots on goal and a 66-42 advantage in shot attempts. On paper they controlled the better portions of the game. However, Hill came up with a ton of big stops to match Oettinger.

“Both goalies were great today,” said Hintz. “You need good goalies, and we got some good looks, but [Hill] made some good saves. He was there when they needed him.”

They also needed Eichel, who continues to come up big in these tight games.

“It’s not at all how you draw it up – I fanned a couple times – but I’ll take it,” he said of the game-winner. “It was good to get the two points. It’s been a long road trip for us. It’s never easy being away for this long, and we knew it was going to be a tough game tonight. It’s always close when we play them.”

And it adds to the rivalry.

“There were pockets of the game where we were crisp with our execution, but the second period got away from us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We just weren’t clean coming out of our end. So, it was tough. It was tough on our defensemen. We battled and had big groups, and they put a lot of pucks at the net. It was a game similar to the first one that went into overtime and a shootout back in Vegas. This one didn’t quite make it that far, but a good hockey team. Two good teams that don’t give up a lot of room.”

They meet again on Dec. 9, and there’s a good chance it’s not the last time this season, either.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.