The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate after Noah Hanifin (15) scores against Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) during the third period of Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars at T-Mobile Arena Friday, May 3, 2024.
Saturday, May 4, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The Vegas Golden Knights will live to see Game 7.
A 23-save performance by goaltender Adin Hill aided Vegas in pulling off a 2-0 win over Dallas on Friday at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights fought off elimination, tying the series at three games apiece and forcing a Game 7 on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PST in Dallas (TBS).
“What a game for goaltenders,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a 0-0 game in the third period; sometimes those are snooze fest, but it wasn’t tonight.”
“I think it was one of those games in which the goalies were just the two dominant players in the game. Eventually, something had to give, and it went our way.”
Golden Knights defensemen step up again
In the third period, it was a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot from defenseman Noah Hanifin that beat Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger’s blocker side to break the scoreless drought.
In the final minute of the game, forward Mark Stone added some insurance on an empty-net goal.
The victory is Vegas’ first elimination game win at T-Mobile Arena and the first non-Game 7 elimination game victory in franchise history.
Vegas is also tied with Colorado as the team with defensemen with multiple goals in the first round. Hanifin scored his second on Friday, and Brayden McNabb has a pair of goals, too.
“It was nice just to be able to squeeze one bye at a time,” Hanifin said. “I think we did a really good job of hanging on to lead and not sitting back too much.”
Hill never lost his confidence
Hanifin was quick to give credit to Hill, saying he “made huge stops in a tight game.”
Game 6 was a big bounce-back performance for Hill. In the final three games of the regular season, he allowed 11 goals on 82 shots and went 2-3.
He sat the first four games of the playoffs before being called upon in Game 5. Despite a 25-save performance, he allowed three goals, and the Golden Knights fell for the third straight game.
Hill said he never lost confidence, stonewalling Dallas on Friday for his first full-game shutout since Nov. 10, 2023, in a 20-save win over San Jose, 5-0.
“I always had confidence in myself and my game,” Hill said. “I had a little stretch where I struggled on some goals and then maybe shouldn’t have, but I felt like in practice, I never really lost it.”
Hill has a good track record against Dallas, and Cassidy has not forgotten about it.
In the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Hill shut out the Stars in Game 3, 4-0, and in Game 6, 6-0, both of which were at American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Friday’s shutout made it a hat trick for his playoff career.
“He’s shut out Dallas before did it last year twice I believe,” Cassidy said. “How about a fourth time, Hilly? I’m sure that they’ll [Dallas] have a game plan for him.”
“But listen, you’re not advanced without good goaltending.”
Golden Knights playing in first Game 7 since 2021
Vegas holds an all-time 2-1 record in Game 7s, with its lone loss coming to San Jose in the 2019 Western Conference Quarterfinals.
Playing in their first Game 7 since 2021, the Golden Knights believe that they need to mirror what they did in Game 6 to advance into the Western Conference Semifinals.
The winner of Game 7 will face Colorado in the second round.
“We need to do more of what we did tonight,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “You gotta treat that like a Game 7. It’s do or die. If you look at our group, we rise to the occasion.
“There’s still some things that we can tweak, but we’ll get ready for them [Dallas] on Sunday,” he said.