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Chandler Stephenson was the key player and hero of his team after he scored a goal into overtime and secured the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars. This was the second match of the Western Conference Final.
Stephenson will probably never forget this moment. "It's my first [playoff overtime goal], so anytime you're in the playoffs, and watching it growing up, to be able to get a game-winner is pretty special," Stephenson said, as quoted by nhl.com "It hasn't really hit me yet that it happened.
It's cool and to go up 2-0 is important for our group." Vegas forward Jack Eichel knew what kind of challenge awaited his team. "You always want to take advantage of home ice," -Jack Eichel said. "Obviously, we know they're going to come out hard and try to do the same in their home rink.
We know that it's going to be a competitive game."
Peter DeBoer reacted
Dallas coach Peter DeBoer, despite the defeat, was satisfied with the game of his team, which gave its all. "That's part of the playoff journey, the teams that go deep find ways to win in overtime," -Peter DeBoer said.
"I really liked our game tonight, thought we did a bunch of really good things, fixed a lot of things from Game 1 (a 4-3 overtime loss). … Our chance in overtime was as good or better than theirs. We just have to stick them in the net." Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy is the type of coach who wants to give every player a chance, and for him, unity and chemistry in the team are one of the most important things.
This could be noticed during the entire season. Cassidy showed that he does a great job with his roster, and the less experienced ones got a chance as well. "We tried to build in a culture that we're going to use everybody and rely on everybody," -Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said.
"We're going to expect our best players to be the best players and followers to follow along and do what they do best. We're going to give them an opportunity to do that, as well. We're going to play them so they feel like they have value on the team."
