Goals came early and often for the Vegas Golden Knights as they defeated the Dallas Stars 6-0 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to advance to their second ever Stanley Cup Finals.
The Golden Knights will meet the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers as they fight for one of the greatest trophies in sports.
Inside of four minutes, Vegas forward William Carrier put the puck past Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for the first goal of the game.
By the time the first period had ended, William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar had added two more to extend the lead to 3-0.
At the 10:25 mark of the second period, Jonathan Marchessault had tacked on a fourth goal for Vegas. A second goal from Karlsson and another from Michael Amadio in the third period sealed the final score.
The Vegas Golden Knights are moving on to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time ever
Vegas defeated the Dallas Stars in a sixth game in the Western Conference Finals
The win got them the Campbell Bowl, which they did not touch following hockey superstitions
Adin Hill stopped 23 shots for his second career playoff shutout – both against the Stars.
The other was 4-0 in Game 3 last Tuesday, when the Knights were already within one win of clinching the series before Dallas overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in both Games 4 and 5.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against Florida will be Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Vegas led the Western Conference in the regular season with 51 wins and 111 points.
The Panthers completed a four-game sweep of Carolina in the East final last Wednesday, but their 40 wins and 92 points in the regular season were the fewest among the 16 teams that began these NHL playoffs.
Instead of having to face a do-or-die Game 7 at home against the Stars, coach Bruce Cassidy and the Knights got off to another fast start and never left any doubt about the outcome of this series that included three overtime games.
The Stars got captain Jamie Benn back after his two-game suspension for a cross-check to the neck area of Vegas captain Mark Stone early in Game 3.
But Benn already had a minus-2 rating without a shot after playing only 3:46 in the first period.
William Carrier (28) scored early in the game for Vegas with this backhand shot
Golden Knights alternate captain William Karlsson (71) put another one in the back of the net
Vegas led for good when Carrier scored 3:41 into the game after a puck poked from behind the net in the vicinity of three Dallas players.
Carrier skated across the front of the crease and put a backhander in the net, the ninth time this postseason the Knights scored in the first five minutes of a game.
Karlsson’s power-play goal came midway through the first period made it 2-0, and after a penalty that likely had prevented him from scoring.
Nicolas Roy took a shot that deflected off Jake Oettinger’s glove and popped up in the air behind the goalie.
Karlsson was charging into the crease when Stars defenseman Esa Lindell raised his stick and swatted the puck out of play, drawing a delay of game penalty.
By the end of the first period, Keegan Kolesar (55) had made it a 3-0 game
With the man advantage, Reilly Smith took a shot from the circle to the left, which was deflected in front by Roy and then off Oettinger´s extended skate before Karlsson knocked in the rebound.
After Kolesar made it 3-0 in the first, and Marchessault scored his ninth goal in the second, Karlsson’s franchise record 10th goal of these playoffs extended the lead to 5-0 only two minutes into the third period.
Oettinger had been 3-0 when the Stars were facing elimination this postseason, including Game 7 in the second round against Seattle before stopping 64 of 68 shots the past two games against the Knights.
That was after Vegas had scored three goals on five shots in the first 7:10 to chase him from Game 3, which was the only lopsided game in the series until the finale. Two of their three regular season game went to shootouts.
Dallas was only the fifth team to force a Game 6 in an conference final or NHL semifinal after being down 0-3, and the first since the Stars lost to Detroit in a sixth game in 2008.
Just before the halfway point of the game, Jonathan Marchessault (81) made it 4-0
Karlsson (71) and Michael Amadio (22) tacked on two more goals to seal the deal
Only two teams got to a Game 7, which both lost – the New York Islanders to Philadelphia in 1975; and the New York Rangers to Boston in 1939.
Vegas avoided a Game 7 at home against the Stars and coach Peter DeBoer, who is 7-0 in such do-or-die games, including the Seattle series finale two weeks ago.
DeBoer was the Vegas coach for its only Game 7 wins – in the second round in 2020 against Vancouver and 2021 in the first round against Minnesota.
But he was fired by the Golden Knights after they missed the playoffs last season for the only time in their short existence.
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