Radek Faksa scored the game-winner early in the third period as the host Dallas Stars eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights with a 2-1 victory in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Sunday night.

Jake Oettinger made 22 saves and Wyatt Johnston also scored for Dallas, the top seed in the West after finishing with 113 regular-season points. The Stars move on to play the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

Brett Howden scored, and Adin Hill made 22 saves for the Golden Knights.

The game was tied 1-1 entering the third, and Faksa scored just 44 seconds into the period. He sent a hard backhand shot from the right faceoff dot past a Sam Steel screen and into the far top corner of the net.

It was the first goal of the playoffs for Faksa, who had been sidelined since Game 2 due to an undisclosed injury.

Dallas took a 1-0 lead at the 14:34 mark of the first period on Johnston’s fourth goal of the postseason. Johnston intercepted Shea Theodore’s clearing pass by the left boards, then cut into the high slot, where he fired a wrist shot past Hill’s glove side.

Johnston’s score came shortly after Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault, alone by the left side of the goal, hit the post while shooting at a wide-open net following a rebound.

“It was so much fun. It’s what we all grow up dreaming of as hockey players, you want to play in the Game 7’s,” Johnston said after the game. “So much energy in the building. The fans were awesome. To be able to come out on top in a Game 7 is pretty special.”

Vegas tied things at 1-1 at 15:25 of the second period when Howden tipped in Michael Amadio’s crossing pass for his first goal of the 2024 playoffs and the sixth of his postseason career.

Faksa then put Dallas in front for good.

Vegas pulled Hill for an extra attacker with 1:50 to go but couldn’t manage a shot on goal until 32 seconds remained, when Chandler Stephenson one-timed an attempt from the right point that Oettinger gloved. Jack Eichel had another one-timer from the left circle with six seconds to go that Oettinger deflected with his glove.

“It’s disappointing. That’s the only way to say it. It’s disappointing,” Vegas captain Mark Stone said.

“It was a tight series. I think we could have won all seven of those games and I think we could have lost all seven of those games. It’s just the way the series was. … Disappointed though. It’s one of those teams that you felt you could go on a pretty long run with,” Stone said.

–Field Level Media