William Carlsen scored two goals and made one assist to help vegas golden nights The Dallas Stars advanced to their second Stanley Cup Finals with a 6–0 win on Monday night, extending the Western Conference Finals to six games after losing the first three.
William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar and Michael Amadio recorded a goal and an assist for the Knights, while Jonathan Marchesault had a goal. Carrier, Marchesault and Carlsen were all part of the inaugural 2017–18 Knights season. finished in their cup final,
Aiden Hill stopped 23 shots for his second career playoff shutout — both coming against the Stars during this series as he went 4-0 in Game 3 last Tuesday. The Knights were already within one win of clinching the series before Dallas lost both Games 4 and 5, 1–0 and 2–1.
The Knights will face the Florida Panthers in Las Vegas on Saturday night to start the Stanley Cup Finals.
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Jonathan Marchesault #81 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during Game Six of the Western Conference Finals of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Dallas Stars. (Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)
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 Finals last Wednesday, but their 40 wins and 92 points in the regular season were the fewest among the 16 teams that started this season’s NHL playoffs.
Instead of facing a do-or-die Game 7 at home against the Stars, coach Bruce Cassidy and the Knights got off to another fast start and left no doubt about the outcome of a series that included three overtime games.
Stars get captain Jamie Benn Back after his two-game suspension for a cross-check in the neck area of Vegas captain Mark Stone early in Game 3, but Ben already had a shot without playing only 3:46 in the first period. K minus -2 rating.
Vegas took the lead when Carrier scored 3:41 into the game after a puck from behind the net in the vicinity of three Dallas players. Carrier skated to the front of the crease and fired a backhander into the net, the ninth time this post season the Knights scored in the first five minutes of a game.
Karlsson’s power-play goal midway through the first period made it 2–0, and followed by a penalty that likely prevented him from scoring.
Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period of Game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
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Nicholas Roy took a shot that deflected off Jake Oettinger’s glove and bounced past the goalkeeper. Karlsson was charging to the crease when Stars defenseman Asa Lindell raised his stick and put the puck out of play, calling a delay of game penalty.
With the man advantage, Reilly Smith took a shot to the left from the circle that was deflected in front by Roy and then off Oettinger’s extended skate before knocking in Carlson’s rebound.
After Kolesar made it 3–0 in the first, and Marchesault scored his ninth goal in the second, Karlsson’s 10th goal of the playoffs – a franchise record – extended the lead to 5–0 just two minutes into the third period. .
Oettinger was 3-0 when the Stars faced elimination this postseason, including the last two games against the Knights before stopping 64 of 68 shots in the second period of Game 7 against Seattle.
Vegas then scored three goals on five shots in the first 7:10 to chase it down from Game 3, which was the only one-sided game in the series until the finals. Two of their three regular season games went to shootouts.
Michael Amadio #22 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates with the bench after scoring a goal during the third period in Game Six of the Western Conference Finals of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Dallas Stars. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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Dallas was only the fifth team to force a Game 6 after falling 0–3 in the conference finals or NHL semifinals, and the first since the Stars lost to Detroit in the sixth game in 2008. Only two teams got to a Game 7, and lost both – the New York Islanders to Philadelphia in 1975; and the New York Rangers in Boston in 1939.
Vegas avoided a Game 7 at home against the Stars and former coach Peter DeBoer is 7–0 in do-or-die games including the Seattle series finale two weeks ago.
DeBoer was the coach of Vegas for their only Game 7 wins – against Vancouver in the second round in 2020 and against Minnesota in the first round in 2021 – but they were fired by the Golden Knights when they missed the playoffs last season for the only time in their short existence were missed