3 takeaways from Knights’ loss: Home ice in first round locked up
The Golden Knights would have had a chance if Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger were one inch shorter.
Rookie left wing Paul Cotter made a great forehand move in the third round of a shootout Saturday at American Airlines Center, needing a goal to extend the game. He tried to jam the puck between the sliver of space between Oettinger’s right blade and the right post.
He ran into the toe of Oettinger’s skate instead.
The Stars goaltender, after stretching as far as he could for the game-sealing save, rose to his feet and raised his arms to his side. He signaled he stopped Cotter to seal Dallas’ 2-1 win at the same time as the official.
The final play summed up how tantalizing close the Knights came to a different result despite icing a short-handed lineup. The point they earned still clinched home-ice advantage in at least the first round of the playoffs.
The point the Knights dropped also kept the race for the Pacific Division title tight. They have a two-point lead on second-place Edmonton with two games to go. The Oilers own the regulation-wins tiebreaker.
“I got lucky,” Oettinger said. “Got lucky God gave me long legs. So, thankful for that.”
Coach Bruce Cassidy, even with the result, said he “loved” the Knights’ effort.
Playing for the fourth time in six days in four cities, they went toe-to-toe with a Dallas team that entered Saturday tied for the Central Division lead with Colorado. The Knights (49-22-9) did so with center Jack Eichel missing with a lower-body injury, according to the KTNV-13 broadcast. Defenseman Zach Whitecloud was also hurt in the third period and didn’t return.
With those players missing, in addition to the team’s other absences in captain Mark Stone, left wing William Carrier and defenseman Shea Theodore, the Knights almost pulled off an upset with a spirited performance.
They defended hard and kept the Stars’ talented top line of left wing Jason Robertson, center Roope Hintz and right wing Joe Pavelski off the scoresheet. The Knights also took advantage of an early opportunity in transition when center Brett Howden scored on a breakaway with 5:39 left in the first period.
The Stars (44-21-14) tied the game with 7:01 remaining in the second period thanks to a goal from left wing Joel Kiviranta. Neither team scored the rest of regulation or overtime against Oettinger and goaltender Jonathan Quick.
Hintz gave the Stars the win by grabbing the only goal of the shootout. Oettinger denied rookie left wing Pavel Dorofeyev and right wing Jonathan Marchessault before finishing things off with his fantastic stretching save on Cotter.
“I thought we did a good job to grind it out to the end,” Howden said. “Obviously, we want that extra point, but for the most part, I thought we battled hard together.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
1. Goalie duel
Oettinger finished with 19 saves to improve to 4-0-0 against the Knights.
Something about the matchup seems to bring out the best in the 24-year-old. He’s only allowed five goals in those four meetings with a .960 save percentage.
Quick made 24 stops to fall to 5-2-2 with the Knights. He allowed fewer than three goals for the second time in his nine starts with the team.
2. Whitecloud’s injury
Whitecloud was hurt with 9:46 left in the third period while engaged in a puck battle in the corner of the Knights’ defensive zone.
Defenseman Brayden McNabb shoved Hintz from behind, causing Hintz to crash into Whitecloud’s left leg. Whitecloud had to be helped off the ice.
Whitecloud missed 21 games earlier this season after Boston Bruins left wing Taylor Hall crashed into his right leg Dec. 11.
“We’re all hopeful it looked worse than it may turn out to be, but we don’t know until we get home,” Cassidy said.
3. Depth comes through
The Knights, while missing some key players, yet again got help from lower in the lineup.
Howden scored his second goal in the last five games and picked up his seventh point in his last 16. Defenseman Ben Hutton got the assist on the goal. He has five points in six games since coming in for Theodore.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
