That was utterly ruthless by Las Vegas. The Vegas Golden Knights have all but secured their second Stanley Cup Final appearance in their short history as they demolished the Stars 4-0 to go up 3-0 in the series.
It’s best that this series is going to be over soon as it’s turning into a complete rout.
The Vegas Golden Knights showed their dominance over the West once again as they completely embarrassed the Dallas Stars 4-0 on their own home ice in Game 3, giving them the decisive 3-0 series lead. And, even though I was really excited about this series, it’s honestly been one of the worst this postseason.
After defeating the Minnesota Wild, a fierce divisional rival, 4-2 in Round 1 and then overcoming a fantastic Seattle Kraken team 4-3 in Round 2, you’d think this Stars side would have given Vegas a good fight with a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals on the line. And they actually were prior to last night as even though they choked away a 2-1 lead in Game 2 and ended up losing 3-2 in OT, the Stars were playing decent hockey.
Sure, that OT loss in Game 2 saw them fall down 0-2 in the series, but they played well enough in Las Vegas to give their fans hope of a series comeback. So, in Game 3, it was only reasonable to believe the Stars would come out in front of their own roaring, eager fans in Game 3 and play their best game of hockey in the postseason yet to claw back a game in the series, right?
Well, no, that would been a Dallas fan’s dream as the Stars actually went out and laid the biggest egg of their season.
I really can’t believe how bad the Stars looked as they not only gave up 3 timid, tepid goals in the first 6 minutes of the game, but they completely lost their heads with captain Jamie Benn incurring the stupidest penalty of the postseason by a country mile. I’ll get to the goals in a minute, but I’ve got to talk about how dumb Jamie Benn is as a hockey player, and how he should be stripped of his captaincy immediately.
This fool thought it would be a good idea to give Mark Stone, who had fallen to the ice right in front of Benn as the pair skated back on defense, a vicious, meaty, two-handed cross-check to his head after the Stars had already gone down a goal.
It’s honestly a horrible penalty and deserving of at least a 5-game suspension as Benn put a lot of force and visible anger (just look at his face as he’s doing it) behind the cross-check, even though Stone was defenseless and holding up his arm to “plead for mercy” (so to speak).
Said penalty not only caused the Stars to go on a 5-minute penalty kill (which the Knights scored on once), but it also sucked any life and confidence out of the team. It was the worst thing Benn could have done for the Stars.
As for the goals, the Dallas defense looked about as composed as a headless chicken as they wilted under even the lightest of Las Vegas pressure, allowing Jack Eichel (1 A, 1 PT), Ivan Barbashev (1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS), Jonathan Marchessault (1 G, 1 PT), Nick Roy (2 A, 2 PTS) and William Carrier (1 G, 1 PT) to easily fire away on Jake Oettinger’s net.
And, with Oettinger (2 saves, .400 SV%) doing his best impression of Swiss cheese in net, the Knight went up 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
Sure, the Stars did manage to hit a post or two prior to Alex Pietrangelo’s clinching goal in the 2nd period, but they really played like a defeated team more interested in hurting the opposition than winning the game. I’d understand that mindset if the Stars were down 0-3 in the series and the Knights were running up the score, but this was not an elimination game. Dallas had a chance of getting back in the series if they won last night!
But, when you have idiots like Jamie Benn as your captain, then I guess the only thing a team can expect is failure and capitulation when the moment gets brightest.
Before I cap this article off, I have to criticize the Dallas fans for their behavior.
Normally, I fully support fans booing and criticizing their home team for a bad performance but throwing a bunch of trash (literally, there was water bottles, food trays, lighters, pens, napkins, etc. all over the ice) on the ice when the Golden Knights shut up shop during the 2nd and then ditching the area at the start of the 3rd is unacceptable.
If you’re going to leave the rink early out of frustration and disappointment, don’t waste the arena employees time with littering all your junk onto the ice while the game is still going on.
And, if you’re going to throw a bunch of trash (which I don’t condone) onto the ice, you’d better sit your butt in your seat for the entire 60 minutes and then some as that kind of disrespect deserves to be punished with watching your team get battered 4-0. I’d understand (sort of) if some jerseys or hats we’re thrown on the ice to show some anger and annoyance, but those fans were throwing literal trash on the ice.
That’s not acceptable.
Nevertheless, the NHL won’t have to worry about Dallas fans treating the ice of American Airlines Center as their personal trash can as the Stars are going to get swept.
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