Dallas Stars Double Up Golden Knights With Robertson's Two

Jason Robertson celebrating a goal for the Dallas Stars

The Stars extinguished the Vegas Golden Knights‘ flickering hope of escaping their recent struggles, handing them a 4-3 defeat on Friday, January 24th, at American Airlines Center, a setback came just one game after they finally snapped a four-game losing skid. Jason Robertson lit the lamp twice while Jake Oettinger stood tall in net, making key saves to preserve the victory for Dallas. Led by Jack Eichel’s two-goal effort, the Golden Knights fought valiantly but ultimately fell short against the Stars’ offensive onslaught, spearheaded by Robertson’s two-goal performance. The Stars are back at it on Saturday when they head to St. Louis to take on the Blues, and the Golden Knights head home to Vegas to host the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

Vegas Golden Knights Lineup:

Barbashev – Eichel – Stone
Olofsson – Hertl – Dorofeyev
Brisson – Roy – Kolesar
Pearson – Howden – Laczynski

Hanifin – Pietrangelo
McNabb – Theodore
Hague – Whitecloud

Hill
Samsonov

Grabbing an early lead for Vegas at 15:56 of the first period, Jack Eichel struck on the power play with a one-timer for his 13th goal of the season. Pavel Dorofeyev attempted to get one behind Jake Oettinger before the Stars tried getting it out of their zone, which didn’t work out as Mark Stone got ahold of the puck and sent it over to Eichel, who fired from the top of the left face-off circle. Roope Hintz knotted it up not long after the opening goal at 13:41 with a power-play goal at the top of the crease when he tipped in Evgenii Dadonov’s shot after the Stars got the puck out of their zone, Logan Stankoven carrying the puck into Vegas’ zone before passing it off to Dadonov.

Jason Robertson broke the tie to get the Stars their first lead of the night with 12:29 on the clock in the middle frame as he skated through the slot, scoring on a rebound of Matt Duchene’s shot. Duchene had received a pass from Robertson, who got the puck from Wyatt Johnston, who carried it along the right boards, in the neutral zone, and into Dallas’ zone before shooting it into the neutral zone for Robertson to pick up. At 11:03, Shea Theodore tied it back up 2-2 with a power-play goal for his sixth goal of the season after finishing a cross-ice pass from Tomas Hertl, who took a pass from Mark Stone after Theodore carried the puck out of their zone and passed it to Stone. Jamie Benn broke the tie to regain the lead for Dallas 3-2 with 3:42 left to play in the second after he tipped in Matt Duchene’s point shot. Miro Heiskanen had passed the puck to Duchene before he fired. Robertson found the back of the net for the second time in the middle frame at 2:06 for his 17th goal of the season to extend the lead to 4-2 when he chipped a loose puck into the top of the net.

Jack Eichel scored his second of the game, as well as his 14th of the season to cut it to 4-3 with just 9:25 left to play in the third period. He stuffed in his own rebound at the side of the net while falling to the ice.

Jason Robertson on the Stars’ performance, Jake Oettinger in the last minutes of the game, confidence and scoring, his line-mates, and important games/mentality: “I thought we played a pretty good game. We kind of took it over in the second period then tried to weather it off in the third, but obviously, they’re a good team, so they’re going to push back and we were able to to close it out. …It goes to show where he’s at in his game. He’s one of the best goalies in the league for a reason,” – “I definitely think (I’m playing) more confident, and when you’re just feeling better and better, I think the puck just finds you in different situations. Ever since December, I’ve kind of been really feeling it and thinking like, OK, these pucks are going to come and try to make the most of it, as opposed to not knowing if it ever is. So, I just got to stay with it. Johnny and Daddy played really well and helped create those chances. …These games are super important against such great teams. It’s not so much playoff mentality, but it’s just you got to win.”

Game Notes:

– Jake Oettinger made a total of 18 saves for Dallas.

– Jason Robertson has six goals in his past five games. …Dating back to the first of December, Robertson has a total of 31 points in his past 26 games (12 goals, 19 assists).

– Wyatt Johnston, Evgenii Dadonov, and Matt Duchene each recorded a pair of assists. …With his two assists, Johnston extended his point streak to six games; one goal, eight assists, which is tied for his longest in the NHL.

– The Stars have lost three of four; 1-3-0

– Dallas: 30-17-1, VGK: 30-15-4

– The Vegas Golden Knights have lost five of six; 1-4-1

– Adin Hill made a total of 23 saves for Vegas.

– Mark Stone had a three-point night, collecting three assists. …Stone also became the fourth Golden Knights skater in team history to record 300 points, joining Jonathan Marchessault (417), William Karlsson (385), and Shea Theodore (333).

– Jack Eichel surpassed both Chandler Stephenson (2021-22, 2022-23) and Stone (2019-20, 2020-21), becoming the first Golden Knights player in team history to have three consecutive 60-point seasons.

– His four-game goal streak coming to an end at five goals, Tomas Hertl extended his point streak to eight games straight with six goals and six assists.