2020 Dallas Stars borrow a game from 2000 Stars to blank Vegas in Game 1
In their bid to reach their first Stanley Cup in 20 years, the Dallas Stars played a game straight from 2000.
Goalie Anton Khudobin took on the form of Ed Belfour, and the Dallas Stars have a 1-0 lead thanks to a 1-0 win.
In this era of the NHL, a 1-0 win is as frequent as a global pandemic; 20 years ago, a 1-0 win happened twice a game.
The Stars scored a little more three minutes into the game, and then shut out the Vegas Golden Knights to win Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday night in Edmonton.
It was the first career playoff shutout for Khudobin, who stopped 25 shots.
The way the third period was played, which the Stars turned into what looked like a 20-minute penalty kill, you could have sworn it was 2000.
The last time the Dallas Stars won a playoff game 1-0 was Game 5 of the 2007 Western Conference Quarterfinals against Vancouver.
Please note Belfour is in the Hockey Hall of Fame; Khudobin has mostly been a backup in his career.
“You have to get results, right?” Khudobin said in a Zoom call with the media after the game. “One goal really matters. I never thought about it, 1-0 or 4-4. There is always stress.”
Sunday was a 60-minute stress test.
Game 2 of this series is Tuesday night.
Just as they were in their previous series against Colorado, Dallas is again the ‘dog here. Vegas is the top seed in the Western Conference.
Vegas should win this series. Sunday night is the first time the Golden Knights have trailed in these playoffs.
It helped a bit that Vegas was playing its third game in four nights, but the Stars can win this series. The gap between the first and third seed in this NHL is about as wide as a hangnail.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead early in the game when defenseman John Klingberg scored his third goal of the playoffs.
The goal was set up in the play of forward Jamie Benn, who along with center Tyler Seguin played well all night even if they were not all over the stat sheet.
Unlike the Stars/Avs Western Conference semifinals that was wide open and high-scoring, this series does not figure to look like that.
Game 1 was physical. There will be injuries in this series.
“There is no animosity here; that develops as the series goes on,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said.
The way the game moved on Sunday night was more like the Stars played during the regular season. You would not know it by watching the Stars’ series with the Avs, but this is not a team that cranks out goals.
“It’s the way Vegas plays. We played on our toes tonight,” Benn said. “We found a way to get one early there and then Dobi made a lot of great saves, especially in the third period.”
About the third period. The Stars played to protect the lead rather than to add to it.
Vegas outshot the Stars 11-2 in the final period, but Khudobin was there for all of them.
“I know it was 1-0 but it was a great hockey game,” Bowness said. “He made a couple of big saves in the third period by reading the play.”
The Stars can’t expect to win this series by relying on their career backup goalie to shut out Vegas, but if there was any doubt on Sunday night Khudobin proved he can do it.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 10:27 PM.
