Pacioretty scores twice, Golden Knights top Stars in Stone's debut

Max Pacioretty scored twice for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 4-1 victory against the Dallas Stars at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Pacioretty gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 14:52 of the third period when he took the puck from goalie Ben Bishop behind the net, passed it out in front, and had it go in off Tyler Seguin's skate.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves in his 100th game with the Golden Knights, who ended a three-game losing streak and won for the fourth time in 14 games. Vegas (33-26-5) is six points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for third place in the Pacific Division.
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Golden Knights highlights]
"I know it was a one-goal game without the empty-netters, but I thought we played so dominant," Pacioretty said. "It was, overall, a great game, a good one to have a new guy step in and find some balance and confidence in the lineup."
Forward Mark Stone was plus-1 with six shots on goal in 17:04 in his Vegas debut. He was acquired in a trade from the Ottawa Senators on Monday and skated on the second line with Pacioretty and center Paul Stastny.
"It was awesome," Stone said. "A slow start for myself and the team, but we really came on and took over the game for the majority of the second half."

Roope Hintz scored, and Bishop made 44 saves for the Stars (31-27-5), who lost for the fifth time in seven games and lead the Colorado Avalanche by one point for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"They pushed. I thought early on we did a good job," Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. "We were doing a good job of defending, (but) we were not doing a good job of penetrating middle ice and getting into their end and possessing pucks."
Hintz scored a power-play goal at 11:13 of the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. Vegas coach Gerard Gallant challenged for goaltender interference by Alexander Radulov, but the goal was upheld after video review.

Pacioretty scored a power-play goal at 11:48 of the second period to tie the game 1-1.
Vegas limited Dallas to one shot on goal in the final 23:04. The Stars did not have a shot from 16:56 of the second period to 11:03 of the third and were outshot 21-1 in the third.
"I think our group wanted to win real bad tonight," Gallant said. "We weren't going to quit. We deserved to win the hockey game the way we played."
A fortuitous bounce helped the Golden Knights get the win.
"They dumped it in and then put it behind the net, and [Seguin] and I kind of clipped skates there, and then they threw it out in front and it goes off [Seguin's] skate and in," Bishop said. "Some unlucky bounces there, not much you can do about it."
Nate Schmidt made it 3-1 with an empty-net goal at 17:58, and Brayden McNabb scored into the empty net at 18:59 for the 4-1 final.

They said it

"Probably a guy that I battled the most in the League, but that's the nature of the sport. There are no real bad guys in this league. Coming into the room, the first thing we said was, 'No more battles, we're on the same side now.' He's a great guy, he's going to be here for a while, and I'm looking forward to playing with him." -- Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty on new teammate Mark Stone
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think him and I would be in a celebration together." -- Golden Knights forward Mark Stone on Pacioretty
"When pressure is coming in this building, it's so loud that D-men can be 15 feet from [goalie Ben Bishop] and he can't hear them. Second time I've coached here, I'm hoarse just yelling at line changes so that players 6 feet from me can hear who's up." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

Need to know

Stars forward Andrew Cogliano left the game with an upper-body injury at 13:32 of the first period after he was hit by Ryan Reaves. He is day to day, Montgomery said. ... Fleury is three wins from tying Jacques Plante (437) for eighth in NHL history. ... The victory was Fleury's 30th of the season, marking the ninth time he's had at least that many in his 15 NHL seasons. ... Stastny had two assists.

What's next

Stars: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Florida Panthers on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-RM, FS-F, NHL.TV)