LAS VEGAS_Radek Faksa tallied the first hat trick of his career Tuesday, and the Dallas Stars became just the second opponent to win at T-Mobile Center, beating Vegas 3-0.
Faksa tallied a natural hat trick in the second period, breaking up a goalie showdown between Malcolm Subban and Ben Bishop, who finished with 34 saves to register his 21st career shutout. Both had been spectacular in keeping the game scoreless, but Dallas played a patient game and waited for the cracks to appear.
In doing so, the Stars moved to 13-10-1 (27 points) and 4-8-1 on the road. Dallas broke a four-game road winless streak and also stopped a five-game winning streak for the Golden Knights. Vegas is now 15-7-1, 9-2-0 at home.
"A lot of it has to do with our mindset. We need to play like we do at home," center Tyler Seguin said before the game. "On the road, when we get uncomfortable, we kind of shy away. When we're at home we are always comfortable, and that's why we play the way we do. When we get uncomfortable on the road, we need to raise our level more, compete more."
The Stars did just that, as Bishop bailed his teammates out in the first 10 minutes of the game. Dallas then tilted the ice, and started getting the better chances on Subban. Seguin had a backhand on an odd-man rush, and Jason Spezza followed with a rebound shot that was stopped by Subban.
Then, the young goalie made the stop of the game, as a pass slipped through the crease and right onto the stick of Devin Shore, who was battling on the doorstep. Shore made a nice shot, but Subban stuck his pad out and made the stop.
That seemed like a sure sign the Stars were going to buckle on the road again, but then Faksa came up big. His first goal (sixth of the season) was set up on a pass from defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who found him open in the slot at the 12:55 mark of the second period. His second came when Gemel Smith moved it to him on the doorstep. Vegas felt Smith interfered with Subban and challenged the play, but officials said the fact Subban's stick got caught in Smith's skate was incidental.
That set up the play of the game.
Dallas took the faceoff at center ice with 26.2 seconds left in the period and the trio of Faksa, Antoine Roussel and Tyler Pitlick moved quickly up ice. Roussel slipped the puck to Faksa, who flipped in his eighth goal of the season with 17.6 seconds left on the clock.
That was the play the Stars needed to finally make a strong statement on the road. The Stars have their fathers with them on the annual Dad's trip, so it's interesting to note that the last time a player scored three goals in one period for Dallas was Feb. 11, 2016,when Patrick Eaves accomplished the task in Chicago ... on a Dad's trip.
"Anytime you can look for a cause, or anytime you can look for something like that to play for, that's an advantage," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said of having the dads on the road. "There's a lot of games in the season, and if you can find special situations where you can take advantage of it emotionally, then you ought to do that, because otherwise all the game start to run together."
Tuesday's game will definitely be one that is remembered
