Stars secure point against Coyotes to clinch playoff berth, eliminate Golden Knights

DALLAS (AP) — Jani Hakanpaa scored on the first shot of the game for Dallas, Joe Pavelski had two assists to reach a career-high in points at age 37 and the Stars wrapped up the Western Conference’s final playoff spot in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night.

After a seven-round shootout victory at home over Vegas on Tuesday night, the Stars needed only one point to join Nashville in the two wild-card spots.

Earning a point in regulation also eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights from the playoff race.

The Stars got that point by getting to overtime, though they blew a 3-0 lead in the third period and lost when Travis Boyd scored his 16th goal 1:43 into the extra period past Scott Wedgewood, who 33 saves.

Dallas has 96 points, one more than the idle Predators, who have games remaining at Colorado and Arizona. The Stars, who close the regular season at home Friday night against Anaheim, will have to finish ahead of the Predators to take the top wild-card spot since Nashville holds the tiebreaker with more regulation wins if the team tie in the standings.

Anton Stralman scored his eighth goal for Arizona with 16:37 left in regulation, about four minutes before Shayne Gostisbehere’s unassisted goal. Barrett Hayton tied it at 3 with 8:02 left on a 5-on-3 power play.

Hakanpaa, with one goal his previous 39 games, scored on a sniper shot from just inside the blue line 4:42 into the game, and only seconds after a faceoff, that went off a Coyotes player on the way to the net. Pavelski had secondary assists on goals by Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen, whose score came with a two-man advantage.

Pavelski has a team-high 81 points (27 goals, 54 assists) to surpass his previous career high of 79 with San Jose in 2013-14. He had already bested the 46 assists he had 11 years ago, and last week became the 22nd American-born player to reach 500 career assists.

The Stars missed the playoffs in the shortened 56-game season last year. They went to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2019-20 season that stretched into late September after a COVID-19 pause and finished in an NHL bubble in Canada.

A night after a regulation win would have clinched a playoff spot, Dallas started fast against last-place Arizona. The only win for the Coyotes in their 11 previous games had been 5-3 at playoff-bound Minnesota on Tuesday night, and they scored three times in the third period to get even with the Stars.

Dallas led 2-0 late in the first when 40-goal scorer Jason Robertson’s shot ricocheted off the left post and slid across the crease behind Harri Sateri before Seguin knocked it in for his 24th goal.

Sateri stopped 26 shots, and Dallas had several others bang off the posts.

Heiskanen’s one-timer from the top of the circle early in the second period, only 14 seconds into a 5-on-3 opportunity, made it 3-0.

NOTES

The Stars are in the playoffs for the 17th time in the 28 seasons they have played since moving to Dallas from Minnesota. It’s the third time in four seasons after making the playoffs only twice in the 10 years before that. … Sateri started only his fourth game for Arizona since getting claimed off waivers from Toronto. He had allowed five, seven and five goals his first three.

Golden Knights miss out on playoffs for first time in franchise history

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Johnson scored in the seventh round of the shootout, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat Vegas 4-3 on Wednesday night, eliminating the Golden Knights from the playoff race.

Johnson scored on a wrist shot seconds before Dallas, which needed a point to eliminate Vegas regardless, went into overtime at home against Arizona. Johnson’s goal was the only one in 14 attempts in the tiebreaker.

Taylor Raddysh had two goals and Caleb Jones also scored for the Blackhawks, who won their second straight. Kevin Lankinen stopped 37 shots.

Michael Amadio, Alec Martinez and Max Pacioretty scored for Vegas, and Chandler Stephenson had three assists. Logan Thompson also had 37 saves.

The Golden Knights came back from three one-goal deficits in the first two periods.

Pacioretty’s mid-air deflection of a Brayden McNabb’s snap shot tied the game at 3-all with 2:48 left in the second. That erased the Chicago lead created by defenseman Jones on a 30-foot shot 5:03 into the third.

Raddysh scored the Blackhawks’ first two goals, giving him 11 for the season. He opened the scoring by banking the puck off Thompson’s backside 16:01 into the first period. Vegas tied it 1:38 later on Amadio’s deep-angle wrist shot from the left side.

Raddysh put the Blackhawks up 2-1 with a second left in the first period, a lead that lasted until 3:57 of the second, when Martinez snapped a puck past Lankinen’s outstretched glove hand.

Thompson made a big save on Alex DeBrincat with 1:42 left in regulation time, stopping the forward from 20 feet to help force overtime.

Thompson batted away Patrick Kane’s close-in chance 42 seconds into overtime, after which Lankinen stopped Jack Eichel’s drive from about 20 feet to keep the game tied.

NOTES: Thompson was in goal for Vegas for the fourth straight game with Robin Lehner sidelined after shoulder surgery. … Chicago D Calvin de Haan and D Erik Gustafsson were healthy scratches. … The Blackhawks’ 14 home wins are the fewest in a full 41-game home season since 2003-04, when they went 13-17-6-5 at United Center. … With one game remaining, no Blackhawks defensemen has scored a power-play goal this season. Only three power-play goals came from the Chicago blueliners last season.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: At St. Louis on Friday night to close the season.

Blackhawks: At Buffalo on Friday night in the season-finale.

Stars secure point against Coyotes to clinch playoff berth, eliminate Golden Knights
Source: Healthy Lifestyle