Knights, Bishop, and Czech Mate

On the coattails (and iconic yellow laces) of Jere Lehtinen’s jersey retirement, the Dallas Stars set out on the road, looking to add on from Tyler Seguin’s hat trick vs Calgary. 

The Stars struggles away from the American Airlines Center have been well documented, with the team only winning 15 road games all last season and brought with them the worst goal differential on the road by any team in the NHL this year and a meager 4 wins. They headed into T-Mobile Arena facing the expansion team that is crushing expectations, Vegas Golden Knights. The first place Golden Knights have the best home record going into Tuesday’s match at 9-1; their only loss at home by the hands of the Detroit Red Wings dating back to October 13. The worst team on the road and the best team at home were set for a rematch of opening night. 

Goaltending dominated this game. Ben Bishop was lights out and made huge saves to control the momentum. Malcolm Subban, one of 5 goalies used by Vegas in this young season due to injuries, held strong. A hard-hitting foot race ensued in front of these men and Subban was the first to blink. A snapshot by Radek Faksa 12:55 into the 2nd period ended the clean score sheet for Vegas, but Faksa was just getting started. The Stars fought off turnovers and a penalty until late on a great set up from Brett Ritchie and Gemel Smith when Radek Faksa found himself in front of the yawning net to tap in his second of the night with 26 seconds left in the period. But he still wasn’t done. Only 8 seconds after the faceoff, the 23-year-old Czech found his way past Subban and to the back of the net again, completing the natural hat trick, the first of his NHL career.

The second hat trick in back to back games for the stars broke all kinds of records:

 - Fifth fastest hat trick at 6:46 recorded franchise since Bill Goldsworthy in 1973

- First back to Back hat trick for the franchise since 1986

 - Fastest time between second and third goals (:08) in franchise history.

- Quickest completion of a hat-trick in the last 30 years in the NHL

- First hat trick ever recorded at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

Despite the hat trick, the teams still had another 20:00 to play. Bishop continued to dazzle and shut out the second highest scoring team in the league, notching his 21st career shut-out victory. Bishop has had the Knights number, stopping all 34 shots faced Tuesday night and in additional, all 19 shots faced on opening night for a save percentage of 1.00% against the NHL's newest team.

Vegas plays fast and rarely from behind. Golden Knights Forward Reilly Smith spoke to this after the game, “...we’re used to scoring first at home...”, but the stars won the foot race, notched the lucrative first goal and never took their foot off the gas.

Images by Sean Barry

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