Special teams haunt Golden Knights in loss to Stars — ANALYSIS

DALLAS — The gulf between the Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars on Monday was the same as the one between their power plays.

The Knights lost 4-2 to the hottest team in the NHL, and also lost the special teams battle, 2-0. The Stars were able to strike on two of their three power-play opportunities, while the Knights went 0-for-4. A key difference is that Dallas got traffic and shots to the net while the Knights largely didn’t.

“When games like these are that tight, sometimes special teams is the difference,” center Paul Stastny said. “They had two big power-play goals and we had a bunch of chances in the second period and we didn’t capitalize, let alone get too much momentum off of that. Power play has got to be better. Just more focused and really get into that attack mode when we get the chance.”

The Stars two power play goals came off a deflection and a rebound. They were willing to camp out in front of the net to score. The Knights, on the other hand, tried to be too perfect it seemed.

They had only four shots on goal during their four power-play opportunities, and just one over the final three.

“I think we try to make one too many plays,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “They’re a good team right now. They’re playing really, really well. When you’re playing well and you’re working hard, sometimes those things go for you.

It’s the difference, I think, between us right now and them. They’re working and we’re working, just sometimes you get those bounces and you keep your momentum going in the right direction.”

The Stars’ first bounce came with 8:18 left in the first period. Defenseman John Klingberg just fired the puck toward goal and it bounced off teammate Alexander Radulov, who was standing in front of the crease, and into the net.

Their second came with 7:49 remaining. The Stars were up 3-2 and had the chance for a key insurance goal on the power play. So Klingberg got the puck at the point, threw it on net and Radulov was there to pounce on the rebound for his second power-play goal of the game.

“Probably whoever was going to win the special teams game was going to have more of a chance to win the hockey game,” Radulov said. “That’s what we did, and everybody was working hard.”

The Knights didn’t take the same approach Dallas did to the power play. They put few shots on net and didn’t set themselves up for many chances for a goal off a tip or a rebound. Just one could have made a huge difference in a game where the Knights trailed 2-0 but received four consecutive power plays in the second period.

“It wasn’t a good game for us,” right wing Mark Stone said. “For us it’s making those simple plays, making good reads and just having that intensity to score. You can’t take power plays for granted in this league. You don’t get a ton of them. When you get four, you have to find ways to generate chances and generate momentum.”

A closer special teams battle could have gotten the Knights closer to one of the best teams in the Western Conference. They didn’t create enough chances though, and didn’t prevent many for Dallas, so they lost their third straight.

“I mean, you saw their goals,” Stastny said. “Both their goals were just point shots. Obviously, it’s 5-on-4 so there’s always someone open to tip and rebound and sometimes that’s how you have to do it.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.