FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Stars - Game 6 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Stars – Game 6 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (12-5) vs Dallas Stars (10-9)

 

The Vegas Golden Knights dominate the Dallas Stars 6-0, winning the Western Conference and advancing to their second Stanley Cup Final.  

It is game 6 of the Golden Knights vs Stars series. 

After losing two straight games, the Vegas Golden Knights finally reverse their problems and won Game 6 defeating the Dallas Stars 6-0.

Vegas is now the Western Conference Champions and are headed to their second Stanley Cup Final in team franchise history.

A collective team effort from Vegas was why the Golden Knights won this game. William Karlsson scored twice, getting an assist for his 10th goal of the playoffs, which sets a franchise record. Vegas goaltender Adin Hill ended the night with 23 saves and a shutout.

“It’s a great feeling to finally clinch that final spot,” Karlsson said. “A lot of smiles and happiness all around. I think [depth] is huge. I think that’s one of our strengths as well, and I think that’s why we’ve gotten this far. If we can have all four lines going every night, we’re going to be a tough team to beat for sure.”

Keegan Kolesar, Michael Amadio, and William Carrier each scored for Vegas as well. Also, from the start to the end of the game, Vegas controlled the tempo.

“Most definitely our best game of the playoffs, and it came at the right time,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You never know when it’s going to happen, you always want to keep building. Boy, if we can bottle that going forward, we’ll be a tough team to beat.”

Dallas looked entirely out of focus throughout most of the game and could not answer to any of Vegas’ tenacious scoring and forechecking.

“We put [Oettinger] in some tough spots. You can’t ask him to win that game by himself,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We asked an awful lot of him (this season). I thought he had a [heck] of a season. He was our backbone all year. That game isn’t on him. I feel bad for our group. I feel worse that he ends his season like that because he doesn’t deserve that with how he played this year.”

Even Dallas team captain Jamie Benn who returned from his two-game suspension, could not help the Stars to victory.

“Obviously, didn’t want to be in a hole like that,” Benn said. “It’s a great group. [Stinks] we had to go out like that.”

End of the first period in the Golden Knights vs Stars series

The Golden Knights were determined to finish the series once and for all. 

The start of periods 2 and 3 in the Golden Knights vs Stars series.

The first period started in the right way for the Golden Knights. Vegas opened up the period by scoring three goals.

The first goal was from William Carrier, scoring after shooting a backhand shot pass by Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 1-0 lead.

“It’s so tough to close a team,” Carrier said. “They go home, and they get that desperation level high. Their bottom six guys played great. They scored big goals for them [in Game 5]. I think our bottom six guys kind of took it personal here and stepped up their game. I think every year you see a team that goes far needs that. They need big goals from their bottom six guys. [Dallas] got it the last couple of games, and obviously, tonight, we were playing well.”

After Vegas was up 3-0 after the first period, the Dallas Stars needed to find answers fast. Overall the Stars were 0-5 after trailing after the first period.

“We wanted to come out with a better start,” Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. “We go down early, there’s still a lot of belief. We have a lot of understanding. There is a lot of game left. Coming into this game, you want to give a little bit more for the crowd. Get them in it. You know there’d be momentum coming. We just weren’t able to get that going.”

The Golden Knights continued to add to the pressure. Jonathan Marchessault scored the only goal of the second period for a 4-0 lead after burying a five-hole backhand shot past Oettinger.

William Karlsson scored his second goal in the third period after his shot blocker side off a drop pass from Michael Amadio, who took the puck from Joel Hanley in the neutral zone for a 5-0 lead.

“I think maybe after Game 3, we did slip a little bit from our game and didn’t play to our strengths,” Karlsson said. “We had a meeting about that before this game. … I think we came out a lot harder. [Carrier’s] line kind of set the tone for that, and I think everyone followed. That’s what we learned. You can’t really drift from your game because they’re good teams this time of year.”

Michael Amadio scored the final goal of the night for a 6-0 lead that sealed the deal for the series as the Golden Knights clinched the series.

The Golden Knights are now back in the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in their franchise history. With some original players from their 2018 team, they have the opportunity to rewrite history as they play against the Florida Panthers.

“We’ve worked hard as a group. That was the goal since year one, to come back here,” Marchessault said. “Our best game is yet to come. That’s the mentality we need to have.”

The final score in game 6 of the Golden Knights vs Stars series was 6-0, Vegas.

 On Saturday, the Golden Knights will play the Florida Panthers in Game One of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena. The puck drop is at 5:00 PM. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet (channel 313 on Cox Cable) and TNT (channel 18 on Cox cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.